


The Thin and Dotted Lines Between Obvious and Oblivious

by TheManyFacesofJester



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Harry Potter AU, I just really wanted a HP AU, M/M, So here we go!, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-05-23 14:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 34,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6119620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheManyFacesofJester/pseuds/TheManyFacesofJester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caleb Brewster thinks Ben, a Beauxbatons student, is conceited, facetious and dreadfully condescending. Ben Tallmadge thinks Caleb, a Hogwarts student, is wonderful, handsome and exceptionally talented. Of all the dangerous tasks looming before them, none are as complicated as falling in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Caleb

**Author's Note:**

> So, I really wanted a Harry Potter AU and I decided I was just going to have to write one myself, so here we are! I wasn't going to write this at all, but I ended up having a lot of free time at work so I just started jotting down ideas for this and before I knew it I was penciling a whole story. Woops! I really wanted a chance to sort everyone into their respective houses, but I decided I liked writing about the Triwizard Tournament better! I hope you enjoy reading it!

The 30th of October was not a particularly noteworthy day in a usual year, but this particular 30th was of vital importance to Caleb Brewster and the rest of Hogwarts.

“I just don’t understand what all this hype is about,” Abe Woodhull muttered as he, Anna Strong and Caleb made their way outside with the rest of the school. “It’s just a game.”

“It’s a tournament, Abe, not a game,” Anna snapped. “And it’s going to be spectacular. Just because you’re not excited it doesn’t mean the rest of us aren’t. You’re entering, aren’t you Caleb?”

Caleb nodded enthusiastically as they lined up in the back row with the other 7th years to wait for the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons to arrive. The air was on the colder side, with a subtle wind sending leaves soaring into miniature tornados of colour. All of this was, however, missed on the students as the patiently, or impatiently, watched the lake and the sky for the arrival of their guests.

The trio of Gryffindor’s situated themselves in the row they were assigned, trying like everyone else to pretend they weren’t as cold as they were. Still, Caleb found this method of “Oldest students in the back” rather anti-inclusive as he found himself behind a particularly tall 6th year,

“I’m gonna try to get closer,” he whispered to his friends.

“You’re going to get caught and told off Caleb. Just stay here!” Abe hissed, but Caleb waved him off and shuffled forward anyways. If Caleb had any truly great skill it was his ability to disappear when necessary. He kept his head low as he made his way to the 5th years row. A couple people noticed him but just shrugged and made room. His second great gift was an award-winning personality that made him friends with just about everyone.

Caleb looked over his shoulder and back at his friends who were still in the back. He gave them a thumbs up and turned around before he could see their response. So far, so good according to him. Unfortunately the wait for the arrivals took far longer than Caleb had anticipated and he found himself wishing he had stayed back with his friends a while longer so he could have talked with Anna and Abe. The fifth years didn’t offer him much conversation, partly because they didn’t know him but also to help keep his cover. Caleb wasn’t exactly quiet once you got him going and he could respect their decision to help him keep a low profile.

At long last, however, a gurgling began in the Great Lake and a massive ship emerged from the depths. It looked to enormous to fit in the late, yet somehow it seemed to not take up any space at all. Magic was funny like that, things were never quite what they appeared. The ship looked almost as old as Hogwarts did in Caleb’s opinion, with dark faded wooden panels and stained sails. It looked like the ship was only ever used for the tournament and as such hadn’t been taken care of very well. This was true of every part of the ship except the pristine flag bearing the Durmstrang Institute creast.

There was a brief cheer from the crowd before the teacher’s for ways to regain composure from the students. As they did so, Durmstrang students began marching off the ship. They looked as burly and brusque as could be expected, but not entirely unpleasant! Caleb assumed that they had been warned to be on their best behavior, just like the rest of Hogwarts, and that they would mellow out as time passed. Caleb nodded at a few of them as they passed him and they nodded back politely, all except one arrogant looking fellow who seemed to be taking in his surroundings with disgust. He had already earned Caleb’s dislike, which was usually a hard thing to do given his personality.

Their headmaster, a powerful, if petite man named Hewlett followed them off the ship and greeted the Hogwarts Headmaster Washington with a respectable handshake, though they both seemed highly tense in each other’s company. Hewlett was not what Caleb would have anticipated.  He had assumed someone tall and intimidating would be in charge of Durmstrang, but maybe he was made of more than his appearance.

Caleb turned around to shoot a look at Abe and Anna only to find them preoccupied with chatting u the Durmstrang students, who had positioned themselves at the back with the 7th years to wait for the other school to arrive. They all seemed to be getting along well, all except that one ugly boy Caleb already didn’t like, who had positioned himself as far as possible from the Hogwarts students. Still, the others seemed nice enough, already dropping some of the overly-formal pleasantries to have a laugh with the students. Some of the 6th years tried to move closer to get in on the action and Caleb had decided it was a good time to head back to his correct row when a noise came from the sky.

Turning to face forward, Caleb saw a giant carriage, being pulled by enormous, winged horsed, soar through the sky before landing in front of them. The fabulous blue carriage clattered a bit as it landed, coming down harder than expected apparently. There was a pause, as the horses acquainted their hooves with the solid ground, then finally the carriage door swung open and out came the lucky chosen students from Beauxbatons Academy.

s Academy.


	2. Ben

There was not one part of Ben Tallmadge that wanted to be riding in that carriage with his school mates and he was most grateful for his release upon the doors opening. When he stepped out, however, he almost wished he were back in the sky as hundreds of eyes peered at him and the rest of his classmates with express interest.

Headmaster Arnold seemed to thrive off the attention. He smiled and amiably walked towards the Hogwarts Headmaster, a George Washington apparently. Ben watched their brief conversation with interest. He had done explicit research on Hogwarts before he left and he had taken rather an interest in the man who led the school. Washington had been the head of the Auror’s Department of the Magical Law Enforcement sector of the Ministry of Magic and he had successfully led to the capture of a vast amount of dark wizards. Headmaster Arnold didn’t seemed pleased to see him however, which didn’t surprise Ben at all given how he had just spent the whole of the carriage ride railing Hogwarts and all its inhabitants, teachers and students alike.

Ben was not paying much attention to anything else besides watching their conversation and as a result someone, probably Bradford, smacked into him hard enough to send him stumbling into a crowd of what looked to be 1st year Hogwarts students. The arms that caught him, however, did not belong to an 11-year-old but were instead connected to a student whose beard suggested he was somewhere around Ben’s age of 18.

“You alright there?” The stranger asked, helping Ben back onto his feet. Ben tried to say something but the other person was still gently holding his arms and Ben felt like he was going to swoon so, instead of speaking he just smiled and nodded a little. The other student smiled back, if a little curiously and Ben felt his face get hot. Whoever this person was, he looked like the word friendly.

“Tallmadge!” Ben swiveled to see Headmaster Arnold and the rest of his fellow students at the door of the castle, ready to enter. They had put themselves ahead of the Durmstrang’s even, which Ben didn’t quite think was fair given that they had obviously arrived first, but there was nothing he could do about it so it had to be left alone. Ben gave another quick smile to his bearded savior and hurried to join the group. As he walked in he heard someone shout:

“Mister Brewster! Why are you with the 4th years? Kindly rejoin your friends in the back!”

That had to be the name of the person who caught him, a ‘something Brewster’. There was one name down, one to go. Ben made a note to find him again when they entered the Great Hall. The room as larger than it needed to be Ben thought, but as Hogwarts students flooded the area Ben didn’t think so anymore. He had never been to a school with so many students, and it was overwhelming but also a little exciting. He could be anonymous here; no one had to know who he was. For the first time he might be able to blend in.

“Where are we sitting?” one of his classmates asked.

“Ravenclaw, there,” Arnold said like an order and the students walked over. Bradford seemed particularly peeved that they had to share a table with Hogwarts students, but Ben was too busy craning his neck to find this ‘Brewster’ to snap at him about it.

The green table under the snake banner had to be Slytherin. He scanned that table after he’d finished searching up and down Ravenclaw to no avail. There were a few students with moustaches and goatees, but no beards as far as Ben could tell. He turned to look at the remaining tables and found one under a lion banner, which had to be Gryffindor. It only took a few seconds of skimming to locate the only bearded student at the table.

‘Mister Brewster’ was sitting with a cluster of other Gryffindor’s, apparently in deep conversation with a long brown-haired girl and a short boy wearing a beanie that clashed with his robes. They had their backs to Ben, but they turned sideways to speak with each other often enough for Ben to recognize ‘Brewster’s’ face, yet not enough for him to see Ben. Ben was hoping one of them would turn and see him, but at that moment the Hogwarts Headmaster began his welcoming speech.

His voice was softer than Ben had expected as he welcomed their ‘foreign companions.’ Ben tried to listen, but Bradford kept talking and making poor jokes the entire time so Ben hardly heard anything at all. He would have smacked Bradford if they hadn’t been warned, rather strictly, to behave. The speech was short anyway and soon enough the plates before all the students were full of food.

While his classmates were preoccupied with their food, Bradford occupied more with degrading and insulting the quality of it than anything, Ben took advantage of the opportunity to wander over to the Gryffindor table. Everyone looked when he stepped over and that was the absolute opposite of what Ben wanted but he could put up with it for now.

“Do you mind if I join you?” He asked as polite as he could. The brunette girl immediately shuffled over to make room, not saying anything. Quite luckily she had left a spot for Ben between herself and ‘Brewster’, the exact person Ben wanted to sit near.

“I didn’t get to thank you for helping me earlier,” Ben said, all eyes still on him.

“Right,” the other boy said, still not sure what to do or say. Ben took the initiative for him.

“I’m Benjamin Tallmadge,” he said and held out his hand.

“I’m Caleb Brewster,” Ben’s bearded savior responded. Ben liked that name. It suited him.

“I’m Anna Strong,” said the girl to Ben’s left who had move to make room. “And this is Abe Woodhull.” The beanie boy nodded at his name.

“Well, thank you Caleb. You didn’t see, by chance, who pushed me?” Caleb grinned a little and casually pointed at a Beauxbatons boy who was talking to loud. Probably about the food.

“Figures. It would be Bradford,” Ben muttered. “He’s the favourite to get picked for the Tournament,” Ben added, unimpressed. Caleb gave a silent nod and returned to his meal. Ben wondered if he had offended him in some way.

“That must tick off everyone else who’s entering from Beauxbatons,” Anna said.

“Not me. I don’t really want to compete anyway, but I got good enough marks to attend. Not that anyone expects me compete though. I’m mostly here to run errands for Arnold.”

Caleb hummed and Ben wondered if he was being sarcastic or not.

“We’re all entering,” Caleb eventually added. “Everyone who is old enough to enter is gonna at least _try_ for it. Everyone except you and Abe I guess.”

“Well, I hope one of you gets it,” Ben said, not sure what he had done to upset Caleb so much.


	3. Caleb

“What was with you?” Anna asked. “That Ben fellow came all the way over to thank you and you acted like an ass.”

Dinner had long since ended and the three of them were relaxing in the Gryffindor common room. The boy from Beauxbatons that Caleb had caught ended up spending the entire dinner with them and Caleb’s comments towards him had only grown more sarcastic as the evening progressed. Ben had rejoined his group at the end of the evening with high hopes to see them all again soon.

“Oh, the long walk from Ravenclaw to Gryffindor. I hope he didn’t wear himself out.”

“He was being polite,” Abe cut in. “He didn’t have to go looking for you, let alone thank you.”

“He was being condescending! He just came over to talk about his school and to show off their ‘head competitor’ or whatever. He was just pretending to care about which one of us got in so he could gloat about his school. He’s probably best mates with that Bradford bloke and he got sent over to warn us off entering.” Caleb said with a huff.

“Well, aren’t you cynical tonight! What did he ever do to you?” Anna asked with a huff as she propped her feet up on the one of the tables exactly the way she was told she isn’t supposed to.

“For one, he got me yelled at for being in the wrong row-”

“Which you deserved because you were in the wrong row and he didn’t do it on purpose, I’m sure,” Anna argued.

“Why are you defending him?”

“Because he was nice and you’re being a prick!” Anna said a bit too loud and several 1st years gasped as they walked through the room to their dorms. Abe chuckled and Anna swatted his arm.

“You’re with me right, Abe?” The other boy pulled off his beanie and mulled his options over.

“I guess you could be right, but he didn’t seem totally evil at dinner.” It was just like Abe to not take sides. Anna and Caleb sighed in unison and they decided to head back out the common room door. The plan was to quietly slip into the Great Hall while no one was there so they could enter their names in private. Apparently everyone else had the same idea and the room was had about 20 or so occupants. Some put their name in right away and left, but others hung around for a while, holding their entries in their hands, debating.

Caleb rolled his eyes and walked right up to the right up to the Goblet of Fire, throwing his name into the flames. He was followed swiftly by Anna. Abe watched, but didn’t approach the Goblet, still adamant against entering or being excited to any degree, or so he claimed. Caleb could tell it was slightly more exciting for him now that his friends had officially entered.

“Good, can we go now?” Abe asked impatiently.

“Well hang on, I wanna see who else is entering!” Anna said. She and Caleb took a few moments to look around at who else was there. Lots of people who weren’t entering were present. Younger students came to see their siblings or friends or anyone enter. It was a little boring Caleb supposed, but also exciting in a way. You got to tell everyone the next day who you had seen enter. It would be the only thing anyone would be talking about until the champions were called. Of the people who were entering, however, there was almost exclusively Hogwarts students in the room, the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students, including Ben, having already put their names in at the end of dinner. There was, however, one outlier from the rest.

“Isn’t that the stuck-up kid from Durmstrang,” Caleb asked, gesturing to a tall boy standing in the shadows of the room. He would have gone unnoticed if not for the dim sparks emitting from his wand. “What’s he doing?”

“Let’s find out!” Anna interjected and walked towards him. The boy noticed they were approaching and quickly stuffed his wand away. “If _I_ were going to cheat,” she began when she got to him, “I would at least try and do it privately.”

“Cheat?” The Durmstrang student said irritably innocently. “Why, I merely came here to observe the other entries.”

“With your wand out?” Abe added.

“A trick of the light, I’m sure.” The other boy then shifted himself closer to Anna. “I’m John Simcoe, by the way.” Anna looked mildly disgusted.

“Good to know; now I’ll have a name to report.” Simcoe just laughed and shrugged.

“You tell me how that works out. The tournament hasn’t even started and already Hogwarts is making accusations against their guests!” Anna might have said more but Simcoe had left before she could think of anything worth saying.

“Arrogant toss…” Anna muttered.

“Isn’t this the part where I defend him?” Caleb retorted, sarcastically adding: “He was just being nice!”

“Don’t be an ass, Caleb,” Anna started. “Ben _was_ being nice to you, no matter what you say.”

“Can we just go?” Abe interrupted. He looked excessively bored at the whole discourse. “I’d like to actually get some sleep tonight.”

Anna and Caleb continued to squabble on their way up the moving stairs with Caleb firmly insisting that every compliment Ben had given was not him being honest, but facetious.


	4. Ben

Ben wondered, the next day, what exactly the issue was between him and Caleb. He didn’t think he had been flirting too excessively, though he wouldn’t know from his lack of experience with the matter, but maybe Caleb was straight and that’s why it bothered him. It was possible, and yet Caleb had seemed upset the moment Ben sat down. Perhaps Ben had interrupted an important conversation? Or maybe Caleb thought Ben changing seats would get him and his friends in trouble? The possibilities were endless.

This dialoged filled Ben’s mind as the hours passed and the morning dissolved into the night. Bradford seemed antsy all day, desperate to get to the selection of the champions. Most of the Beauxbatons students were in the same state. Bradford was the expected champion, but everyone else still had high hopes. The chattered discussion of what the three challenges could be filled the carriage, which was much larger on the inside than the out, though still significantly too small to spend a year in, in Ben’s opinion.

A dozen neat beds filled part of the space, in clean rows of two while the back of the carriage had a spacious private room for Headmaster Arnold. The rest of the space was an open area with a kitchenette, tables for eating and studying at, which they still had to do even though they were far from their school, several book cases and lounge chairs. At the moment everyone was crowded into the living space to gossip about the Tournament. Everyone except Ben, that is, who was lying in his bed in the back of the carriage, trying to study a book on the History of Magical Espionage.

At long last Arnold emerged from his room and announced that everyone was to head towards the castle.

“Are you even bothering to come?” Bradford called down the carriage to Ben once Arnold had stepped out.

“I wouldn’t miss a chance to watch you embarrass yourself,” Ben quipped, climbing out of his bed and walking briskly to the door.

“You gonna sit with us this time or with your new boyfriend?” Bradford asked with some bite in his words. Ben responded by smacking him upside the head as he walked by, then scrambling out the door of the carriage before Bradford could retaliate.

Ben _did_ want to sit with Caleb, Anna and Abe, if only to apologize for whatever he had done yesterday, but decided it was better to sit with his group to congratulate the eventual champion. Likely because of that, dinner went painfully slow and Ben kept glancing over at the Gryffindor table and, of course, Caleb. He never turned around, but Anna caught Ben’s eye once or twice and winked playfully. She nudged Caleb a few times and Ben wondered if she was telling him that Ben was looking. If she did Caleb either didn’t care or made a special point to never turn around.

“The champions will now be chosen,” the Hogwarts Headmaster Washington said curtly. He offered no other words, but none were needed as everyone sat on the edge of their seats to see who would be chosen. If Ben remembered correctly the order of champions chosen was based on which school the tournament was being held at. Because they were at Hogwarts it would go Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, then Hogwarts.

Ben was internally reciting all of this when a sudden flame shot up from the Goblet beside Washington and a chit of parchment floated into his hand.

“The Durmstrang champion is – John Simcoe.” A cheer erupted from the Durmstrang’s over at the Slytherin table, but Ben ended up focusing on the sighs of disgust coming from the Gryffindor trio. They apparently disliked this choice and were far braver than Ben would have been to be vocal about it. They didn’t openly boo the Durmstrang champion, per say, but they did voice come sighs of disgust and slight outrage.

As Simcoe disappeared through a door to the left of the Hogwarts Headmaster a tense silence suddenly filled the Beauxbatons side of the Ravenclaw table. Even Bradford’s mouth was glued shut as they all waited for another name to be called.

Another shot of flames burst up and Washington read: “The Beauxbatons champion is – Benjamin Tallmadge.”

There was dead silence. Even Arnold looked shocked. The rest of the room seemed confused by the silence, so they too kept quiet. Then there was a cheer from the other side of the room as Abe and Anna went wild at the Gryffindor table. Caleb even seemed to be pitching in and soon there was enough noise from the rest of the room so it was no longer awkward for Ben to stand and walk to the front of the hall then go through the side door to where the champions were meant to meet. Ben could feel Bradford starring daggers at him and that made him feel just slightly better for being chosen. As he slipped into the door, and away from the hall, he wondered who the Hogwarts champion would be. He knew who he hoped it would be, but he didn’t want to jinx it.

the Hogwarts champion would be.


	5. Caleb

“Jesus Christ, if I get picked I’m going to scream,” Caleb said once Ben had disappeared. “The two people I can’t stand would be my competitors. I wish I hadn’t entered to begin with!”

“At least beating Ben would be an easy win,” Abe said, going from loud to soft as a silence fell over the hall. “He said himself he wasn’t expected to compete, and by everyone’s reaction I would agree that he wasn’t lying.”

Caleb, Anna and Abe finally turned their attention to the head of the room when the last chit was flying out of the Goblet and into Washington’s hand. Before the name was called, though, Caleb noticed a head with long brown hair pop out of the side door. Ben, apparently, seemed intent to hear who the Hogwarts champion was, regardless of protocol. Caleb nudged Abe’s arm to try and point him out as a filthy cheater in the making, but before he could he heard:

“The Hogwarts Champion is – Caleb Brewster.” Washington seemed pleased with this result and the rest of the room exploded with cheers, especially from the Gryffindor table. Caleb’s gift was his charming personality and everyone, even those who had entered as well, seemed delighted to have him representing them. Caleb, despite his previous comment, was absolutely thrilled as well. Abe and Anna smacked his arm hard as he walked past them to get to the front of the hall.

His eyes were drawn to a smiling Ben Tallmadge who gave him personalized wide grin before disappearing back into the room. Cheeky bastard probably thought Caleb was going to be easy to beat. Why else would he be so malevolently delighted?

“Congratulations you three,” Washington said, having followed Caleb into the room. “I am absolutely pleased to have all three of you as our champions.”

The room soon also held Headmaster Hewlett, whose expression did not betray him by showing any particular emotions on the matter of his school’s champion. Meanwhile Arnold still looked shocked and maybe even a little embarrassed if Caleb was reading him correctly. Maybe Ben was telling the truth; maybe he _was_ just there to run errands.

Caleb was aware that Ben was watching him as Washington explained the rules of the tournament. The first test, as usual, would be a secret until the day of the event and then hints and clues would be given to prepare the competitors for the other task and finally they would be told the final task a month before it occurred in order to prepare. Caleb tried to focus on the Headmaster but he was getting more and more irked by Ben’s constant attention. Was he sizing him up? Why did he keep looking?

Eventually Washington stopped talking and invited the headmasters to share a drink with him in a connecting room while the champions got acquainted. Ben, Caleb and Simcoe were then left alone.

Simcoe looked over his competition with a patronizing glance up-and-down the pair before him. After apparently dismissing either of them of being worth his time he left the small room without a good-bye or any explanation. Caleb was not particularly upset to see him go, and neither he nor Ben tried to stop him from leaving.

“You don’t like him,” Ben remarked, sitting down on one of the plush armchairs that surrounded the roaring fire.

“He tried to jinx the goblet last night. Anna, Abe and I saw him. The tournament hasn’t even started yet and he’s already started cheating! He can’t be trusted,” Caleb explained. To be fair, Caleb didn’t entirely trust Ben either, but at least he had proof of Simcoe’s indiscretion. Ben seemed displeased at this update, well, _more_ displeased, as he hadn’t exactly looked thrilled before.

“I’m glad you got chosen, at least,” Ben finally said.

“Thanks.” Caleb wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that. “Congratulations to you as well. Was Bradford upset?”

“He’s going to murder me when I go back to the carriage,” Ben said, half serious, half whimsical. The silence that had followed his name being called certainly did not speak well in his favour. Still, Caleb wasn’t big on pitying his competition.

“It’s still an honor to be chosen,” Caleb snapped. “You could be more grateful.”

“Sorry,” Ben said quickly. “I am, I guess, but I would have rather just watched from the stands, that’s all.” Ben looked like he had shrunk since the start of dinner. “It’s not that I’m so much worried about the tournament itself. I like challenges. It’s just I know my school wasn’t expecting me to get chosen, and I wasn’t either, and I’m going to have to fight Bradford’s campaign against me.”

“Right,” Caleb said, having heard enough. “Well, I’m gonna go celebrate with the rest of Gryffindor. I’m not really in the mood for a pity party.” With that Caleb walked out of the door and towards Gryffindor tower to meet with his friends.

“He was as pretentious as possible the whole time!” Caleb bemoaned to Anna and Abe. The fanfare over Caleb being chosen had died down, at long last, and the three were comfortably seated together on the chairs in the common room. “You should have heard him! Pulling the whole ‘be sorry for me’ act before coming out of the left wing with the ‘I’m not worried about losing’ garbage! He thinks he’s already won!”

“Sure,” Anna said, breezily.

“You weren’t _there_ , Anna! Can you just admit that he’s evil?”

“He can’t be as bad as Simcoe,” Abe interjected. Caleb nodded tentatively in debated agreement. That was probably true.

“Alright, I’ll give you that, but Ben is-”

“-a very nice student who wanted you to sympathize with him. So, he knows his own worth! You certainly know the same,” Anna said.

“Abe, tell her Ben’s not ‘nice’.”

“Sorry Caleb, but she has a point. He does seem pretty genuine. His classmates were giving him death-glares the whole ceremony.”

“Et tu, Abraham?” Caleb said in a mocking tone. “You just wait until the competition. Then you’ll see!”

The great debate on the legitimacy of Ben’s goodwill went on for the next few weeks. Classes went on, but Caleb was much more interested in discussing the tournament with anyone who would listen. In the common room at night he and his friends would discuss tournaments of the past, reading newspaper stories of past champions to one another. Caleb wanted nothing more than for people to do this with his story one day. The story of his victory. He mused on what they would write about Ben. He didn’t have to wonder for very long though, as interview day arrived at last.

Caleb was excused from his classes for the afternoon, which he reveled in, so he could attend his press interview with the other champions. Simcoe was already there when he arrived, but Ben showed up a few minutes later. He had obviously run here.

“You’re late,” Ben’s Headmaster said when he showed up.

“I lost track of time. I’m sorry.” Caleb noticed a book under his arm. That was not particularly unusual. While avoiding Ben in the hallways before and after meals he noticed that Ben had an affinity for carrying a new book wherever he went. This one was one Caleb knew was from the Hogwarts library. Anna had checked it out months ago and made him read it. Magic, Movements, and Witches Rights, it was called. Anna loved it. So did Ben, apparently, having already read half according to his bookmark.

Ben made motions that he was going to talk to Caleb, but all three champions where whisked away to different sides of the room to be interviewed. Caleb was paired with a particularly short wizard with a goatee. He was wearing dark glasses, even though they were inside and he had a terribly cheap accent, if that was possible. Still, Caleb answered all his questions with a smile and a pleasant disposition. He talked about how he came from a poor family, how his family came from a line of broomstick makers and how they are so proud of him. He went on and on about how excited he was to be a part of this momentous part of history and how honored he was to just be here, even if he didn’t win. Basically, he said anything that would get him a big spot in the paper.

Pictures were taken afterwards. Ben was put in the center of the picture, with Caleb and Simcoe on either side of him. That irked both of them, though Caleb could admit that Ben was the most attractive. Not that he really noticed, of course, it was just a passing thought. Just something that occurred to him while they sat side by side.

“It’s here!” Abe shouted the next day when his copy of The Daily Prophet landed on the breakfast table. Anna and Caleb, along with an assortment of other Gryffindor’s, huddled around Abe to see what had been written.

“You look nice for once, Caleb!” Anna said, smacking him lightly on the chest with one hand while she pointed to his picture with the others. He did look quite good. He had tied his hair back and trimmed his beard for the occasion and he looked like a very respectable gentleman. The moving picture showed him laughing slightly, grinning widely. He’d made himself laugh so the picture would turn out nice. Simcoe sat frozen the whole time, looking grim as usual, but Ben, Caleb noticed, turned his head to him and smiled before turning back to the camera. He watched the image on repeat a few times before glancing over to see what was written.

His section was first, a triumph in Caleb’s opinion, as his words were that of dedication and respect and honor. He sounded like a shmuck, but people loved that garbage. Simcoe’s was next but longer than Caleb’s, which was irksome, but Simcoe was extremely passionate in his wording. He _really_ wanted to win this competition apparently. Ben’s came last, and was much shorter than either of theirs. It was really just a paragraph. Ben talked briefly about how hopeful, but nervous he was about the upcoming challenges, there was a mention of Ben’s father being “surprised but delighted than Ben was a champion” and a few words on a brother of his that had died a while back, but that was it. Caleb almost felt bad for taking up so much space, but he reminded himself that Ben was a competitor and simply asked Abe if he could keep that copy of the paper instead.

During the time after the interview, and even after the choosing ceremony, Ben did not come and sit with the Gryffindor’s, though Caleb suspected he wanted to the way Anna described Ben’s ‘longing looks towards the table’. Caleb continued to bring up the subject for more days than were entirely necessary as the first task grew closer.

“He wants to learn our strategy, Anna!”

“Give it a rest, Caleb,” Abe whispered. The trio was currently in the process of sneaking stealthily down the hallways of Hogwarts. In the space of time between the selection of the champions and the present date, Caleb had been pulling every string possible to discover the first task. He hadn’t gotten any truly valuable information until Robert Townsend, founder and Captain of the Wizard Chess Team, said he’d overheard two Ministry workers discussing “a structure being built behind the Great Lake.” Robert was a reliable source, so Caleb, Abe and Anna had made plans to sneak out late at night to discover what they could behind the lake.

They reached the door to the outside, no problem. Hogwarts didn’t exactly have the strongest internal security. Anna had answered the Ravenclaw riddle correctly two weeks past and held an impromptu Gryffindor part in their common room. Caleb had actually secured himself a job at Hogsmeade last year working part-time at a shop. Sneaking out of Hogwarts was remarkably easy on an average night, and today was no different.

“ _Lumos_!” all three said, almost in unison as they arrived outside. The late autumn air was filled with a misty rain that clung to the top layer of their cloaks while they walked. Shuffling past the Great Lake, Caleb could see both the Durmstrang ship and Beauxbatons carriage. Just briefly, Caleb wondered about Ben and what he was doing right now.

“Dim your wands,” Abe hissed, suddenly. “Do you see that?” All three wands went out at once as two moving figures turned about the area behind the Great Lake. Shrouded in darkness, Anna, Abe and Caleb crept ever closer until they could hear the figure’s voices. The stopped behind a cluster of trees and listened intently.

“-got to be ready by the 24th-”

“But it can’t be visible until directly before the tournament! This is impossible!”

“We’ve kept bigger things invisible, I’m sure.”

“Bigger than a mountain? Name _one_ occasion, Grimly!”

“OK, well, I mean, I can’t off the top of my head, but-”

“A mountain,” Caleb whispered while the two Ministry workers debated. “What are we gonna do with a mountain?”

“Climb it, I suppose,” Anna said. Abe hushed them both and they went back to listening.

After an hour of eavesdropping, Caleb discovered they _would_ have to climb the mountain, facing a number of challenges along the way, though those challenges were not discussed so they would be a mystery for the time being. The winner would be whoever got to the top first. It all seemed rather clear cut to Caleb, and he seemed adamantly sure that he had a winning chance. When the Ministry workers finally cleared the area the trio successfully snuck back into the castle, a task as easily accomplished as sneaking out.

“Alright, get to the top first. Simple!” Caleb declared.

“You still don’t know what the challenges are though,” Abe added, ever cautious.

“Beats not knowing anything!” Several paintings shushed them as they climbed up the stairs. It must have been the early hours of the morning, so the paintings were justified in their request for silence, but Caleb flipped them off anyway.

“You’re better off than Ben and Simcoe, at least, provided they haven’t found anything out yet.”

“I’m guessing you’re not telling Ben, then,” Anna remarked.

“Absolutely not! I cheated, fair and square!” Caleb cried out, much to the dismay of the sleeping portraits. “Besides, I bet he and the Beaux-bastards are doing the same thing we are anyway.”

“If you say so.”

Caleb was not certain that either side were also cheating, but he knew he was likely one step ahead of Ben which was exactly what he wanted.


	6. Ben

The weeks leading up the first challenge were immeasurably miserable. Bradford was as ruthless as could be expected from the moment of the choosing ceremony to the present moment. He accused Ben of cheating, and even went so far as to accuse Washington of lying about whose name he had pulled, but Headmaster Arnold put a stop to that. Still, Arnold wasn’t much help in any other respect than defending his own interests. Ben was still subjected to the ridicule of his peers, which Arnold didn’t care much about. It was obvious that he hadn’t wanted Ben to be champion either.

Every evening Ben almost went over to the Gryffindor table, but he wanted to catch Caleb alone first to apologize for whatever way he had upset him when they were alone in the room. He wasn’t sure what he had done, but he figured a formal apology would clear matters up. That plan never got a chance to come to fruition as Caleb evaded Ben the whole time. Perhaps on purpose, perhaps through coincidence, but Ben never caught Caleb anywhere else but the Great Hall. He could hear Caleb’s laughter from across the room sometimes, and he wished he were there with him. Ben had never had a crush on anyone before. This was new territory for him, and it was difficult terrain to trek given Caleb’s apathy towards being around him. If he could just apologize for whatever he had done then maybe they could started getting along.

He became rather caught up in chasing down Caleb and ended up forgetting to take any measures to prepare for the first challenge. Not that there was much he could do, regardless. The first task was a secret. Ben might have tried to discover what the task was, but Caleb had seemed so adamantly against cheating that he decided otherwise. If Caleb was going to compete honestly, than so was he. That they could at least agree on.

“Are you ready for the first task, Tallmadge?” Headmaster Arnold was hovering over Ben’s bed while he completed a particularly grueling astrology assignment that he was meant to finish before the end of the day. He had been reading up on the history of witches and wizards in the early centuries of America before remembering the other assignments he was meant to do. Ben and his peers would be missing the usual classes at Beauxbatons for their final year, but they were still required to complete the proper amount of schoolwork in neat take-away lesson packets.

“Yes, I believe so.”

“You are, or you believe you are?” Bradford perked up from across the room. He always liked when Arnold shouted at Ben, which was happening more and more frequently. Apparently, Ben made an excellent un-official personal assistant, but for him to do anything else was just asking too much of him, in Arnold’s opinion.

“I _am_ ready. I’m quite accomplished in my spellcasting and whatever happens to me, I know I’ll survive it.”

“I don’t need you to survive, I need you to win!” Arnold stamped his good foot on the ground. Bradford and half the carriage snickered.

“I can’t promise you that,” Ben said. That was the honest answer, just not the one Arnold wanted to hear.

“Go back to your book, Tallmadge. Try not to disgrace your school too much tomorrow.” With that, Arnold was back in his room. Bradford seemed thrilled at Ben getting lectured, but still pining the fact that it should be him in Ben’s shoes.

Ben didn’t sleep well at all that night. He tried to imagine all the scenarios he could be put in, but nothing was coming to mind. All he could think about was past tournaments, but they never repeated a challenge twice. What else could possibly be in store for him?

Sunrise came and went and it was afternoon before Ben knew it and he was being hurried into a champion’s tent beside the Great Lake. Though the trees around the tent blocked most of his view, he could see a mountainous structure covering most of the land behind the Great Lake. He attempted to piece together what that would have to do with the first task as a gaggle of people brushed by him, heading towards their seats to view the tournament, no doubt. Ben almost wished he was with them, but then he caught a glimpse of Caleb in the champions tent and he decided where he was perfectly fine.

“Welcome. Good to see you, Tallmadge,” Headmaster Washington said in that small voice of his. Ben smiled at Caleb. He didn’t smile back. “I am sure you all noticed the mountain on your way in. In order to win this challenge you must be the first to reach the top and claim your corresponding item. The remaining champions will be awarded points depending on how well they do. There will be challenges to face along the way. You are permitted only your wand and what you have on you now for this task. Best of luck to you all.”

And that was it. He finished speaking and left through the flap in the tent, nodding his head in a little bow towards the lot of them. Ben’s mind flashed through every spell he knew that could help him, but his gaze ended up fixating on Caleb. He seemed unperturbed by the revelation of the task. It wasn’t, however, the fake kind of arrogance that Simcoe was always putting on. No, Caleb looked like he’d already known what he was up against.

“Caleb,” Ben approached the other boy with a whisper. “You knew, didn’t you?” Caleb smiled tightly, like he was trying to not look smug.

“Ministry workers aren’t too quiet. Especially at night when they think no one’s listening.” Ben wasn’t happy with this answer.

“You made all that fuss about Simcoe cheating and then you went ahead and did it anyway!” Ben hissed.

“I leveled the playing field! I might as well if he’s going to!” Caleb shot back.

Ben opened his mouth to say something else, but they were being called to line up at the edge of the tent, so he turned and said nothing. Caleb’s features seemed softer, though, as Ben walked away.

Simcoe, Caleb and Ben stood shoulder-to-shoulder as they waited for the signal to begin. There was a pause, a short whistle blow, and they were off, wands at the ready.

The mountain looked enormous from the ground. All three contestants stopped in their tracks as soon as the saw it. Upon further inspection, however, it was not totally unmanageable. There was apparently a path – an extremely rocky and steep path - that wound up half the mountain. The rest would have to be climbed straight up, but Ben would tackle that when he got to it. For now, he would have to catch up with the others. Caleb had come to his senses first and took off like a shot towards the uneven pathway. Simcoe followed closely after, but even still he was falling behind. Caleb was wearing some kind of shoes. They looked like climbing boots, but they had some kind of sticking surface on the bottom. He was wearing special gloves also. Those were likely for the hand-climbing half of the task.

Ben, though bookish and well-read, was actually an impressive sportsman. He had done rock climbing and cliff-jumping with an old friend, Nathan, a few years back and it turned out he was really good at it. Despite getting a start a few moments after Simcoe he quickly caught up. Neither of them were wearing proper climbing shoes, or any enchanted garments like Caleb, but Ben was wearing sturdy sneakers and he was making good progress. Then a vine leapt out at his leg. He jumped over it, but another shot out from the pile of rocks he was climbing over. They were springing from everywhere.

“ _Immobulus_!” Ben shouted, directing his wand at the vines reaching for him. The ones he hit froze in their tracks. Simcoe was simply trying to leap his way over the vines, which was proving successful, while Caleb seemed to recognize the vines as Devil’s Snare and was blasting light at the plants. In all, they each made it past their first challenge virtually unscathed.

What Ben was expecting was creatures and monsters on his journey up. He was not expecting a giant waterfall on the other end of the mountain. And yet, there it was. The water seemed to fall all the way to the bottom of the mountain, which was surprising to Ben, given that he felt he should have past it at least once. He supposed that was part of the enchantment. The bottom of the water fall was too far to be swum across, and the top was too high to reach, though Ben imagined he would not see the fall again after he crossed it this once. The gap between both sides of the waterfall did not seem impossible to jump, Ben concluded, but the pressure of the waterfall would push anyone who jumped straight down.

Caleb only paused a moment before casting a spell Ben couldn’t make out before a large bubble of air appeared around his head. With that he attached himself to the solid wall to the left of the waterfall and, to the shock of Ben, began climbing through the waterfall to the other side. His feet and hands stuck to the wall, even under the water, thanks to whatever enchantment he had done to them, and he would be past the fall in no time. Ben only had to think a moment slower to discover his solution. Ben braced himself, prepped for the jump, then shouted “ _Deprimo_ ” and took a running leap. A gust of wind shot from his wand, temporarily making a gap between the water that was falling. A gap that only had to hold long enough for Ben to get across. As he passed through, however, his wand was only creating a gust of wind in from of him, not behind, and he felt the water begin to fall behind him. He yelped as his back was hit with a rush of water just as his feet made contact with the ground. He’d made it across.

Caleb wasn’t too far ahead of him anymore. His climbing had taken longer than Ben’s jumping and the space between them was closing as they continued to climb. They had apparently made it to the end of the pathway and were now facing the daunting task of climbing the side of the mountain straight up. Rocks had been positioned, thankfully, in places that could be reached, but it wouldn’t be easy, and there was no rope to catch him if he fell. Still, he had to keep going, so he grabbed a rock and started pulling himself up. Caleb, with his enchanted footwear and gloves, had the advantage, but he was obviously unskilled in the art of rock climbing, so Ben was still not far behind.

Ben could see the top of the mountain. It was coming directly into view when he heard “ _Petrificus totalus!_ ” from down below. Ben expected the spell to hit him, but instead he saw Caleb freeze, almost at the top of the mountain, then start to fall. His gloves and boots were enchanted, but without gripping the wall he was going to fall eventually. He began falling directly down just as Ben got out his wand and cast “ _Levioso_ ”.

Caleb hovered in the air where Ben had caught him, now halfway down the face of the mountain. Simcoe pocketed his wand in his soaking wet robes and began climbing up while Ben began climbing down. When he reached Caleb he grabbed hold of the boy’s arm and said “ _Finite_ ”. Caleb had enough sense to grab the wall, lest he plummet down and drag Ben with him.

“Are you alright?” Ben asked, Simcoe having already made it to the top of the mountain. He could hear the crowd cheering for the first arrival; for the winner.

“You were winning! Are you crazy?” was Caleb’s response.

“What did you want me to do? Leave you here? Come on, we can argue later, let’s finish this!” Ben and Caleb climbed together and a steady pace. The immobilizing charm Simcoe had cast was still affecting Caleb, and he was moving slower. He did, however, steady Ben a few times when he wavered, since Ben didn’t have as good a grip as Caleb. When they were just about at the top Ben stopped.

“What are you doing?”

“You would have won is Simcoe hadn’t cheated,” Ben said. “You go first. You earned it.”

Caleb opened his mouth, but he must have seen something in the determination on Ben’s face and thought better of it.

“Fine,” he sighed, then added in earnest: “Thank you. But next time, it’s gonna be a fair fight, alright Tallboy?”

Ben smiled, and nodded as Caleb pulled himself up over the mountain. Ben gave him a second before he also dragged himself up. From the top he could see the crowds of people cheering. He almost didn’t notice the paintbrush with his name on it on the ground. Caleb had one also, and Simcoe must have had one as well. That was all they were going to get as a clue to the next task.


	7. Caleb

“What exactly does one wear to a Yule Ball?” Anna asked as she dropped an array of dresses on the lounge chair in front of Caleb and Abe. Abe couldn’t care less about the Yule Ball, he’d probably wear what he had on at the moment if it came to it, but Caleb immediately started sifting through the dresses she had thrown down. It wasn’t that he cared about what Anna was wearing, more he just wanted to see what she had.

“Where did you get  _this_?” Caleb commented, holding up a sleeveless white dress with colourful flowers up and down the straps and a belt designed to look like a vine.

“It was for a recital!” She retorted, grabbing the dress from Caleb and holding it close.

“A recital? What for? Ballet with the Maenads?”

“You’re funny.”

“What else have you got. Anything that’ll fit me?” Caleb grinned, pulling a short black strapless dress out of the pile and holding it against his chest. Anna snatched it from his hands and put it back in the pile.

“Can you be serious? Abe, what are you wearing. We need to coordinate our colours.”

“I don’t know. The brown suit I have-”

“You’re going to wear brown… to a Yuletide party? To match me?”

“Is that wrong?”

Anna sighed and turned back to Caleb.

“What are wearing Caleb?” She asked.

“The better question is who are you taking?” Abe added. His eyes finally left the Daily Prophet paper he was reading. Simcoe was on the second page, holding his paintbrush as proud as possible. A picture of Ben and Caleb, however, was on the front page. The article talked a lot about what had happened during the event, specifically discussing what Simcoe had done, making claims that it wasn’t cheating technically, also including what Ben and Caleb had done to help one another. Well, really what Ben had done to help Caleb. Caleb only did a little bit of work at the end, helping to steady Ben as the climbed the wall.

Caleb hadn’t stopped thinking about the first task since it had happened. He had gone out of his way to side-step Ben the whole time, and Ben had gone out of his way to help him for no reason at all. Neither Anna nor Abe seemed to think it was all too surprising, but Caleb was shocked by not only what Ben had done in terms of aiding him during the competition, but specifically by Ben allowing him to take second place. Ben was the one who deserved it. Caleb  _and_  Simcoe had both cheated, in different ways of course, but Ben hadn’t cheated at all because of what Caleb had told him and he ended up with third place. It wasn’t fair. The judges didn't seem to think it mattered too much though, giving Simcoe 46 points out of 50 for coming first, despite trying to literally kill Caleb. Maybe they thought he had a competitive spirit or something. Caleb got 35 points for being prepared, which was true, but only because he had cheated, and Ben got a meager 33 points for doing well in the beginning but none of the judges were inspired to award too many extra points for saving Caleb's life. They probably thought it was nice until Ben gave up second place and probably felt like Ben wasn't taking the competition seriously. Next time they would all be better matched, though.

“Caleb?”

“What?” Caleb restored his focus to Abe, having spaced out while staring at the picture of him and Ben on the top of the mountain.

“Who are you going with to the Yule Ball?” Abe repeated.

“Oh, um, I’ll find someone,” he said.

“You haven’t asked anyone yet?” Anna exclaimed more than asked.

“I’m waiting for the right person!”

“Right,” Anna said. “You’re not just the laziest person on the planet who doesn’t have any ambition at all.”

“I’m in the Triwizard Tournament, Annie! I think that qualifies as at least a little ambitious!” Caleb cried out, suddenly offended by Anna’s accusation. “Also, I’ll have you know, I have not fallen behind in my studies despite the fact that I am a Triwizard champion. I am getting… you know, my usual grades for all my classes. Except for Potions, but I’ve always been shit at that, so it doesn’t count.”

“I offered to tutor you,” Abe mumbled. A pillow was removed from one of the sofas by Caleb and hurtled towards Abe’s face, much to the formers delight and the latter’s discomfort.

December 24th was rapidly approaching and Caleb still hadn’t gotten a date for the Yule Ball. He just wasn’t close with anyone like that. Sure, he was friendly with everyone, but he only really had two close friends. He would have gone with Anna if Abe hadn’t asked her first, though, to be perfectly honest, if Abe didn’t get his act together she might not turn Caleb down if he asked her.

Caleb had continued his pattern of avoiding Ben, but for different reasons than before. Before it had been about believing Ben was the enemy, now it was about Ben thinking Caleb was. What could Ben think of him now? Caleb wasn’t entirely sure why he was suddenly so interested in Ben’s opinion of him, but he was, and he didn’t want to know that the Beauxbatons student saw him in a different light than before. He had behaved rather badly and quite shamefully. Maybe Ben was his competitor, but Caleb had to admit that he wasn’t wholly evil. In fact, he might even turn out to be the Nice Boy that Anna kept describing him as.

Despite his best efforts to avoid Ben, however, somehow the two ended up running into one another in the hallway. Caleb usually timed going to breakfast with after the Beauxbatons students left, but he happened to show up exactly as they were going back to their carriage and the two students met eyes with one another. Both paused as the rest of the Beauxbatons students continued onwards. As far as Caleb could see, none of them cared whether Ben stayed with the group or not. They couldn’t have been pleased at him getting third place. It had been a close third place though, with the judges commending Ben for his levitation spell and giving both runner-ups close scores. But it was the principle of the thing, Caleb supposed.

“Thank you,” Caleb said before Ben could get anything out. “For what you did. You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it.”

“I couldn’t let you fall,” he said softly. Ben seemed more, how could Caleb put it, bashful than usual. His ears were tinted pink and he kept shifting his feet.

“They treating you alright?” Caleb asked, his head nodding towards Ben’s schoolmates. Ben shrugged. “That bad, huh?”

“They’re not happy about getting third place, but I don’t really care. You would have gotten first if Simcoe hadn’t cheated.”

“You would have gotten first is neither of us had cheated, you mean,” Caleb added. Ben looked slightly awestruck at that. “Ben, I was wearing clothes that were jinxed to allow for optimal climbing and you managed to catch me up. You were spectacular.” Ben looked at his feet and swallowed.

“What do you think about going to the Yule Ball?” Ben asked in a hurry.

“What? Oh, I mean, I’m going. Why, are you not?”

“That’s not what, um, what do you think of going with me?” The words came out in a jumble and Caleb almost didn’t catch them.

“With you?” Caleb started. “What do you mean?”

“Do you want to- I mean, I guess you might already be going with someone, and that’s fine, but if you weren’t then- I just- I should catch up with my group.” With that Ben swirled around and ran to catch up with his group, all of which didn’t seem to care in any particular way about Ben’s whereabouts.

Caleb was confused to say the least. He replayed the scene over in his head as he walked towards the breakfast hall to meet Anna and Abe. They usually got there earlier than he did. They were not trying to avoid Ben.

“Something weird just happened.”

“Let me guess, you ran into Ben?” Anna said, obviously guessing that Caleb was being overdramatic about his competitor again.

“Yes, but not the way you think. I think he asked me to the Yule Ball.”

“OK, and?”

“Did you just hear me? He – Benjamin Tallmadge - asked me to the ball.” Caleb was expecting a bit more of a shock reaction to this update.

“Is that surprising to you?” Anna asked.

“Are you serious?” Caleb replied. “Of course it is. The two of us don’t get along-”

“No,” Abe said, apparently catching on that Caleb was being serious about his confusion. “ _You_ don’t get along with Ben. Ben’s been all over you since the day he arrived here.”

“What?” Caleb called out. “No! He was just being nice to- OK, well, I guess he  _wasn’t_  trying to steal our secrets, but that doesn’t mean- Wait….”

Anna and Abe leaned closer, waiting for some kind of epiphany to dawn on Caleb.

“Shit. Shit, maybe he does like me.”

Anna threw her arms in the air.

“Yes, stupid. He’s had the most obvious crush on you since the day you caught him in your arms and you have been nothing but an ass to him the whole time. I only told you a couple hundred times.”

“Wait, but if I was a total ass to him, why would he still like me?”

“You got us there,” Abe said, chewing loudly on a piece of toast. Caleb attempted to throw his own toasted bread at Abe, but he seemed to have learned from the pillow incident and ducked. “Nice try.”

“So what did you say to him?” Anna pressed on.

“I didn’t? I don’t know. I was confused. He was confusing, and then he ran to rejoin his group before I could give him an answer.”

“So, what are you going to tell him?” Anna asked. Caleb had to think about that for a little bit.

“I don’t- I mean- I don’t like Ben like that. I just got over the idea that he’s a total dick, so he’s not really a prime candidate to be my date, but I guess we could go as friends or something. It might look good for two competitors to go together, I might even get in the paper again.” Caleb thought out loud. He still wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about Ben, but he figured he could trust him enough for them to spend the evening together as friends.

“If that’s what you want, I’m sure he’ll be delighted,” Anna said. Caleb nodded and munched on a muffin. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Are you going to tell him about this plan at any point?”

“I just sat down, woman. I’ll see him at dinner and let him know. Calm down.”

Caleb, naturally, did not tell him at dinner because Ben did not go to dinner. Anna and Abe also did not seem shocked by this. Caleb was getting the nagging suspicion that they knew more about what was going on between him and Ben than he did, and that was bothersome.

“He’s probably still at the carriage.”

“Would you guys cover me if I snuck out right now. If he’s in the carriage I can talk to him alone without the peanut gallery,” Caleb said, nodding his head over to the rest of the Beauxbatons. The pair nodded as Caleb crept away from the table and out the door. No one stopped him as he left. No one would have thought to anyway. Security was awful at Hogwarts.

The trip to the carriage was a pleasant one. It was dark and quiet and just the right kind of cold. Caleb could see light coming from the carriage, and knew it was from Ben. He was probably reading something.

When he arrived at the door he knocked at loud as he could. He assumed the carriage was larger on the inside than it was outside, so he figured he should pound the door to be heard, in case Ben was at the back.

“I didn’t lock it-” Ben started at he opened the door, than stopped when he saw who was there.

“I wasn’t really going to open it without being invited in, but if you’re not opposed to that-”

“Caleb,” Ben said, surprised. “Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting- What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t let me answer you before and you didn’t show up to dinner. The Yule Ball’s in two days, so I figured this counted as time sensitive.”

Ben shuffled awkwardly in the doorway. He clearly anticipated an unfavourable answer. Caleb had been debating how he was going to do this. He didn’t want to give Ben the wrong impression, but he figured he owed it to Ben not to make him feel uncomfortable.

“Listen, I think it’s a great idea for us to go together,” Caleb started. “We sort of got off on the wrong foot and I may have been more of a dick than I meant to be-”

“No, you weren’t, I just upset you somehow-”

“Actually you didn’t, but that’s not important, the point is, you and I should get to know each other better and I think going to the Ball together is a great way to do that. I mean, the paper’s gonna love reporting on that. Two competitors have never gone together. We’d make history.”

Caleb could see Ben’s ears tinting pink. He  _did_  like Caleb.

“That’s… That’s a yes then?”

“Yes,” Caleb affirmed. “Just as friends, you know.”

Ben nodded, a smile sprawled across his face. Caleb felt a twinge somewhere in his stomach. Ben looked genuinely happy as he said good night and shut the door.


	8. Ben

Nothing could bring down Ben’s mood on Christmas Eve. Snow had started falling in the dark, early hours of the morning and Ben thought it was a sign of good fortune to come. He hummed carols throughout the morning and afternoon as everyone in the carriage got ready for the evening affair.

Ben hadn’t exactly been expecting Caleb to say yes, but he wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t have at least a little hope that Caleb wouldn’t say no. Because of this, several preparations had been made for the ball. First and foremost he had gotten his outfit ready – a blue suit with gold trimmings. It had been in his family for much longer than it should have been, but Ben thought he looked quite nice in it regardless of how many years it had been around. It wasn’t like anyone in the wizarding world wore anything in fashion from the current century anyway, and it reminded him of his brother, who had owned the garment before him.

“I trust you’ve made some progress with the clue for the second task?” Headmaster Arnold asked, passing in front of Ben to pick up and inspect the paintbrush that was sitting beside Ben’s bed.

“I’ve…made attempts to discover what it means,” Ben admitted. It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried. In fact he had inspected the brush multiple times, but nothing was standing out to him about it. Was he expected to draw in the next challenge?

“That’s not good enough,” Arnold scolded. “You already made a mockery of our school in the last challenge. Try to actually go into this challenge with the mindset to get better than last place!”

Ben nodded solemnly and listened as the rest of the carriage snorted with snippets of laughter. Headmaster Arnold didn’t seem convinced, but he moved on anyway. He seemed to be, in his travels, inspecting the attire of his students. Ben wouldn’t have expected him to do any less. He certainly couldn’t have his students appearing shamefully before all of the Hogwarts and Durmstrang schools. Ben imagined Hewlett was doing the same with his own students right that minute.

“Not much use in going just to dance by yourself,” Bradford called from his bed. Ben wasn’t sure who he was talking to until no one answered and it dawned on him that he was the target of that misguided insult.

“Why, have you been told my partner is sick?” Ben replied casually.

“You got yourself a date?” Bradford sounded genuinely shocked.

“I’m going with a friend,” Ben said, but his face flushed despite himself. He was glad then to be facing his bed instead of his fellow students. They wouldn’t let him live it down if they knew he liked his competitor.

“No one from here then,” another voice said softly. That hurt more than it should have, maybe even more than was intended. But it was Christmas Eve, and Ben was going to the Yule Ball with Caleb Brewster, and nothing was going to make him feel small or weak today.

The cool darkness of evening crept into the windows of the carriage and beckoned all the Beauxbatons students to begin the trek to the castle. The snow which had been light in the morning had picked up during the afternoon and the ground was now covered in a thick layer of fluffy snow. Headmaster Arnold quickly melted a path with his wand and the students traveled with hast to get out of the bitingly cold air. Anyone from Hogwarts who was attending the ball with a Beauxbatons or Durmstrang student was waiting inside the entrance to the castle. There were only a few students waiting there, since most students chose to go with members of their own school.

It didn’t take much looking to find Caleb, leaning against a wall away from the crowd of excited students waiting for their dates to arrive. He looked wonderful. His long hair was done up in a small ponytail so it was pulled away from his face, save a few stray curls that couldn’t be controlled. He was wearing a long brown overcoat and a pure white shirt, both of which looked perfect on him. Ben hoped Caleb would accept the red in his cheeks as an effect of walking inside from the cold, and nothing more.

“Hi,” Ben said, stupidly, when he made his way to Caleb.

“You look nice,” Caleb said, and Ben smiled at the words.

“Thank you. You look wonderful.” Ben added.

“I clean up pretty good, don’t I?” Caleb said with a laugh, spinning around so the tails of his coat danced about him.

“Should we go in?” Ben said when Caleb stopped spinning.

“We have to wait,” a voice from behind Caleb said. “The champions are announced and then we go in for the first dance. Any moron knows that.”

Simcoe seemed in a poor mood, and the evening hadn’t even begun yet.

“Dance? You know how to dance right?” Ben said in a hurried sort of way to Caleb.

“Yes,” he replied back, somewhat offended apparently.

“Oh,” Ben gasped. “No, no, I didn’t meant to imply- I didn’t think you couldn’t- I just-”

“Relax, Tallboy. I’m kidding.” Caleb was smiling again, so Ben smiled back. This night promised to be nothing less than perfect.

As they waited to be announced, the three champions watched everyone else entering the Great Hall, as well as a few lower class students who had gathered around the entrance to watch the older students arrive. Ben didn’t blame them at all. It was spectacular to watch the array of fashions that flashed in and out of the Great Hall. Long glittering dresses and svelte dark suits adorned those who were invited to attend the Yule Ball. Before long Ben’s gaze was drawn to discover who Simcoe was taking as his partner to the dance. The woman he was with was a tall and pretty thing, but she seemed as little interested in him as he was with her.

“He asked Annie to go,” Caleb whispered over to Ben.

“What?” Ben mumbled back.

“Simcoe asked Anna to go with him,” he repeated. “She turned him down flat. Called him a lot of things he probably didn’t like. He was furious over it!”

“Is that why he’s in such a bad mood?”

“Is he ever in a good mood?”

Ben laughed softly, which Simcoe seemed to notice. Ben tried to straighten up and look more alert, but Simcoe started towards then anyway.

“You two sure are laughing a lot for people without dates,” he said in that sneering voice of his. It was then that Headmaster Washington made the announcement to introduce the Triwizard competitors.

“Who said we didn’t have dates?” Caleb said before grasping Ben’s wrist firmly and pulling him in through the door. Simcoe followed as quick as he could afterwards, but Ben and Caleb had already stolen the show. Caleb held onto Ben’s wrist as they traveled through the crowds of people, using his other hand to actively wave at his friends and classmates. Ben simply smiled at the people he passed, not nearly as charismatic as Caleb, but he did give a wave to Anna and Abe when they passed them in response to both of their enthusiastic thumbs up. Cameras from the Daily Prophet went off, capturing the entrance of the Champions. Caleb was right. This would make a good story.

The Great Hall was a dazzling winter wonderland. The whole room was fastened in varying shades of blue. Glowing icicles hung in various lengths from the ceiling, while twinkling lights covered the walls. Ice sculptures in elegant designs marked every column in the room. False snow fell from the sky, but never made it to the ground as the magical weather dispersed before ever touching anything in the room.

Caleb led Ben all the way to the designated dancing area where three spots were marked off on the floor, as there was supposed to be three pairs of dancers, but instead an empty gap was left and ignored as the music started. A fantastic waltz rang from all around Ben and Caleb took the lead as they began to dance.

“You’re good at this,” Ben said after they had been dancing long enough for it to be socially acceptable to begin a conversation. At this point, also, enough people had joined the competitors on the dance floor so that Ben wasn’t afraid of their conversation being overheard by too many people in the quiet.

“You’re not bad yourself!”

“A lot of spells work better with the proper footwork. I just did a lot of studying.”

“Footwork affects magic,” Caleb mumbled. “I’ll have to remember that!”

Too soon the music changed and the song ended. At this point Ben and Caleb could have stayed and danced some more, but they were flagged down on the side of the floor by all three of their headmasters to speak briefly with the press.

“I’m no good at this,” Ben said to Caleb, in distress.

“Then let me talk for you. We’re here together – it’s one of the perk!”

“You two are the first Triwizard Competitors to ever attend the Yule Ball together!” a reporter said too loud and too fast. Ben wanted to slap him for his arrogance and irritating nature, but Caleb seemed calm and collected. “In this competition rivalry usually comes first! How did you get over that barrier to be here together tonight?”

“In the last challenge I think we all saw how important it is to work together, even as competitors. That being said, Ben and I have been getting along great since the start of the tournament, and we thought it would be good for everyone to see some comradery and have us attend the Ball tonight as the friends we are.”

Ben couldn’t believe how many lies Caleb could get out of his mouth in such a short amount of time. He was only asked three questions, and each time he talked about how well he and Ben got along, all of which was a lie. Caleb barely said yes to him when Ben asked him to go. He did notice, however, how often Caleb referred to them as friends. He wasn’t giving the Daily Prophet, or anyone, any room to speculate on them being anything more. Ben wasn’t exactly upset but this, but it wasn’t giving him a wonderful feeling either. Still, he wouldn’t mind at least being a friend to Caleb. That was all he could ask for, really, given how poorly their relationship had started off anyway.

Simcoe was only asked one question, which irritated him excessively. Caleb had stolen his spotlight again. Ben couldn’t have been more thrilled.

“You look great. Both of you!” Anna said as she sashayed her way towards Ben and Caleb, Abe following suite. They were both wearing dark blue, Abe in a flowing suit and Anna in a shimering dress.

“You look wonderful too!” Ben said, unsure how else to respond.

“Thanks. Caleb, think you’ll get front page again?” Anna said in a whimsical way.

“I better. Simcoe should at most get ‘continued on page 3’.”

The group laughed before Anna decided it was time to drag Abe onto the dance floor. He seemed less than enthusiastic about the ordeal, but one he started dancing his smile started to grow. As far was Ben could tell, he was a spectacular dancer.

“Your friends are nice,” Ben commented as he and Caleb walked about the Great Hall, taking in all the decorations and attendees. The Headmasters of all three schools were seated at one table, not that Washington did much sitting. He must have done more dancing that evening than any of the students. Headmaster Arnold and Hewlett, however, spent most of their time sitting across from one another, not saying one word. Not that they were the only ones sitting. Plenty of students had come without dates to the ball and were standing or sitting to the side. One girl, Ben saw, had snuck in what appeared to be copious amount of candy in the pockets of her dress and was spending the evening sharing the snacks with her girlfriend. Caleb pointed her out and commended her for her ingenuity. He wished he’d thought to do something like that.

“Hogwarts really is beautiful,” Ben said, initiating a conversation as best he could.

“I guess,” Caleb shrugged. “I’m used to it though. What’s Beauxbatons like?”

“It’s also a castle,” Ben started. “But it’s not quite as, I don’t know, dark as Hogwarts?”

Caleb had to laugh at that.

“I don’t mean- It’s very nice here! Just, there’s more light at Beauxbatons, I suppose. The castle is up in the mountains and in the morning you can watch for just the right moment when the sun peaks out from the cliffs.”

“I heard there’s a magical fountain,” Caleb said. Now it was Ben’s turn to laugh.

“There is a fountain, and it is powered by some kind of magic, but I’ve never know it to have any magical properties of its own. You’ll hear a story one in a while from someone who claims it healed a wound, but nobody has any proof,” Ben explained.

It was like that for the rest of the evening. They meandered and talked, then danced, then ate, then danced some more and before too long the evening was drawing to a close. Even still, Ben and Caleb hung around the longest out of every one, too busy laughing at something or other to notice the room clearing of its attendees. It wasn’t until Anna came back to get Caleb that they even noticed the room was being cleaned.

“The ball ended half an hour ago,” Anna sighed, exhausted. “You have to go to bed at some point, even on break!”

“Oh,” Ben gasped, looking around to find him and Caleb were alone except for one drunken professor who had nodded off at some point during the first hour of the ball.

“Well you’re still up,” Caleb retorted, but he had begun to stand up anyway. He extended a hand to Ben absent-mindedly and helped him up. Ben, however, forgot to let go of Caleb’s hand once he was standing, and Caleb laughed a little before releasing his own from his grip.

“I’ll meet you in the common room,” Anna called with a smile as she left the room in a hurry, leaving Ben and Caleb alone to say their good-byes.

“I’ll walk you to the door,” Caleb said, bumping shoulders with Ben as he started to walk. Ben followed behind, his shoulder fragile at the sensation.

“This was nice,” Ben said in a small voice.

“Yeah,” Caleb agreed. He seemed to be struggling for the words to say. There was a silence until they arrived at the door.

“Thank you,” Ben said quickly.

“Thank- For what?”

“For going with me. I know you don’t like me too much, but it really was nice of you to do this. Bradford was so sure I didn’t have a date, and I got to be the first contender to go with another Triwizard champion to the Yule Ball and that means a lot to me. So, yes, thank you.”

“Ben.”

“Mhm?”

“You talk too much.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s alright,” Caleb laughed. “I just mean, I dunno… You don’t need to apologize for existing. I went with you because I wanted to, and I had a good time. I thought you were kind of a git when I meet you, but I just over reacted. You’re nice, and I’m glad we get to be friends after all of this. Be safe walking home- erm- to the carriage.”

“Thanks,” Ben smiled, and stepped out into the frosted air. His face was already tinted with red before he even stepped outside.

Friends.


	9. Caleb

As a matter of absolute fact Caleb Brewster was entirely positive he didn’t completely hate Benjamin Tallmadge. Of this he was entirely certain. Everything else, however, in regards to his feelings towards the Beauxbatons boy, was completely up in the air. He had agreed that they were friends, this much was settled, but something felt wrong about the word ‘friend’ and he just couldn’t figure out what. It could be that they were competitors vying for eternal glory, but that didn’t feel right either. So as December turned to January he decided feelings were a messy business altogether and he wasn’t going to bother trying to understand them anymore.

“So what about that paint brush then?” Abe asked over breakfast.

“What?” Caleb replied, startled. He’d been looking at the door, waiting for the Beauxbatons to arrive, and upon Abe’s interruption he realized he wasn’t sure why.

“The paintbrush,” Abe repeated. “Have you done _anything_ with it yet?”

“I’ve been busy, I’ll get to it, relax!” The first statement was true; they were all busy this time of year. The second statement was not. Caleb had rather been hoping something like last time would come up and let him know what he was up against, but no such luck had cropped up this time around and while he wasn’t worried yet, a small kernel of stress was building up in the base of his stomach.

“You think Ben or Simcoe’s figured it out?” Abe asked as Anna flopped down beside him, arriving just in time to swipe and absolutely perfect strip of bacon out from under Abe’s reaching hand.

“Are you talking about the clue for the next task?” She asked between crunches. “If Simcoe’s got it figured out we’ll never be the wiser, but if Ben had sorted that out he’d break down the Gryffindor dorm to let you know.”

“God, can you let it go,” Caleb sighed. “He might like me a little bit, but he’s not a moron. I didn’t tell him what the last challenge was, why would be go out of his way for me?”

“Because he’s a decent human being and you’re a piece of shit?” Abe shrugged. Caleb was about to hit him when the door opened and the Beauxbatons students entered, a flurry of shimmering blue. Caleb’s eyes met with Ben’s and the other boy smiled. Caleb liked that.

As the entered the group headed to the Ravenclaw table, as usual, but Ben, without prompting, made his way over to the Gryffindor table.  Most of his school either didn’t notice or didn’t care, but Bradford followed Ben with his eyes.

“Hiya, Ben,” Caleb said in a friendly way as he made his way over. “Been a long time since you’ve been over at this table. Wanna sit down?”

“I was- Oh. Can I?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, sure, why not, they don’t look like they’re missing you too much,” Caleb said nodding to the other Beauxbatons students, upon which Anna kicked him in the shins. He really needed to think before he decided to speak sometimes. In any event though, Ben didn’t seem to notice the statement.

“I just thought there might be rules,” Ben explained. “Last time I came over here you seemed sort of upset, I thought I was going to get you in trouble again.”

Caleb could feel Abe and Anna’s glaring eyes boring into his soul and he reflected on that first night. Why _had_ he been such an ass?

“Oh no, sorry, I was just… nervous,” he said as he pointed to a seat. Ben raised an eyebrow, but sat down anyway. This was the time to change the subject. “So how’s life Benny-boy?”

“Fine,” he said quickly, apparently having his own agenda. “But I actually came over here for a reason. I wanted to talk to you about the second task.”

As Ben spoke his voice got lower and lower and Caleb, Anna, and Abe became more and more invested in listening to him. For the first time that day Ben had Caleb’s full attention and he couldn’t help but noticed that Ben looked somewhat scared. Worried at the very least, but something was most definitely eating at him.

Caleb knew he’d figured out the clue.

“What’s the paintbrush mean?” Caleb asked in a voice so low Anna and Abe were leaning their heads across the table to listen.

“That’s just it, it’s not a paintbrush,” he said in a voice just as low. Then even lower, so soft it was almost pure air, he said: “It’s a broomstick.”

Something lit up inside Caleb. Of course that’s what it was! How could he have been so stupid?

“The next task is flying?” Anna hissed. “Then you’ll be fine Caleb, you’re the Gryffindor beater, nothing you can’t handle!”

Caleb nodded enthusiastically. He’d been Gryffindor’s best beater since his first year, so he could fly exceptionally well, but he was also good at flying while avoiding things being chucked at him, which seemed a useful skill for whatever this challenge was going to be.

“Are you sure it’s a broomstick?” Caleb asked, all of this feeling too good to be true. Ben nodded fiercely.

“I thought it was a paintbrush too so I decided to try painting with it to see what happened,” Ben started and Caleb felt stupider. Try painting with it to see what happened, not really a difficult concept, he could have done that too if he’d thought of it. But he hadn’t thought of it; Ben had. “But I got sort of frustrated when nothing happened so I threw it and it just started going on its own! It took a turn around the room then and came back to me. Nothing else happened, so I can’t be sure what the task is going to be exactly, but it’s definitely going to involving flying.”

“Probably a race,” Anna said.

“Could be some kind of three person quidditch match though,” Abe pitched in. Caleb thought all of that sounded wonderful, but Ben looked worse and worse with each suggestion.

Caleb was going to say something when he noticed a boy from another table starting to lean in to try and listen, and he changed the subject. The group seemed to understand the verbal que and went back to regular discussion. The last thing they needed was for Simcoe to find out as much as them, provided he didn’t already know.

Soon enough Caleb, Anna, and Abe had class and began to head out, but Caleb lingered behind a moment. Ben still looked sickly, and since the Dining Hall was fairly empty after the breakfast rush he figured now was as good a time as any to broach the topic.

“You alright?” he asked softly.

“I just… I’m not sure,” Ben replied, then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter though.”

No, it does,” Caleb sighed, sitting back down next to Ben. He could be a few minutes late for Potions. He hated that subject anyway. “What’s wrong? Something about the second task?”

Ben nodded and chewed his lip. Caleb sat patiently waiting for a further answer. Sometimes saying nothing at all is enough to get words to bubble up from someone. Ben was tough, but Caleb would get this out of him eventually.

“I can’t fly.”

Caleb furrowed his brow.

“What?”

“I can’t fly. I don’t know how to.”

“What’d you mean you don’t know how to? What are they teaching you at this mountain school?”

Ben laughed and rolled his eyes, but he still looked pale.

“We don’t put as much emphasis on it Beauxbatons. It’s sort of an elective area of study.”

“And you never elected for it?” Caleb said.

“Pretty much.”

“Jesus…” Caleb trailed off, ruffling his own hair with his hand.

“Listen, don’t worry about it!” Ben said, standing up. “I’ll figure something out, I always do.”

Ben had nodded good-bye and was headed back towards the Ravenclaw table, where the Beauxbatons were still sitting obviously unaware of Ben’s absence, when Caleb caught up with him and started in a whisper.

“I can teach you.”

“What?”

“I can teach you how to fly. Meet me on the Quidditch pitch tonight at midnight. I’ll bring everything you need. You saved my neck last time; I think it’s time to repay that favour.”


	10. Ben

There were two parts of Ben at war with each other as he lay in his bed waiting to sneak out. The first side was the part of him that was absolutely sure he was never going to be able to pick up flying no matter how much he practiced and he was going to make an absolute fool of himself and his school in the upcoming task. The other part of him, however, was thrilled to have Caleb instructing him. He had been so afraid he had upset Caleb in some way to make their relationship unsalvageable but Ben seemed to be growing on him and it felt nice to have someone who thought of him as a friend. It was a small step forward in terms of the years Ben had spent without many, or any, but he liked Caleb enough to not mind any of that. All he really wanted was for the two of them to get along, still he knew how important winning the competition was to his school so he had to make a conscious effort to not spend the entirety of the time trying to earn more of Caleb’s favour.

Ben checked his watch at 11:33 and decided he couldn’t wait any longer to leave.

“Sneaking out to see your _boyfriend_?” a voice hissed. Ben knew it was Bradford.

“Yes,” Ben said with a shot of attitude. Bradford wasn’t sure what to do with that apparently as he remained silent for a minute. He’d asked a question, been given a direct answer, which he hadn’t been expecting without some kind of elaborate cover-up, and the conversation appeared to be over. Given that, Ben pulled on his jacket and slipped out the door.

It was cold outside, but not particularly bad for late January, so the walk from the carriage to the pitch was much nicer than anticipated. There hadn’t been snow for weeks, but the ground still crunched from the midnight frost that covered the ground. The Quidditch pitch came into view not long after his walk began, the giant stands and towering goal hoops rising from the darkness. It looked almost ominous as it stood in the dark quiet of night.

“You made it!” Caleb said much louder than Ben was expecting as he flew overhead. It was almost exactly midnight but Caleb looked like he had been soaring around on his broom for quite a while. He likely enjoyed being in the air too much to give up any opportunity to do it. Ben could have resented that if this wasn’t the person set to instruct him. A love of flying seemed a fine quality for his teacher to have.

“Of course I did,” Ben replied, walking over to where Caleb had landed. “I’m starting to feel no one in my school particularly cares where I go or what I do as long as I do alright competing.”

“Works better for us that way, I guess,” he said optimistically and handed Ben a broomstick. “It’s a Comet Two Ninety. Not the fastest ever, but not a great beginner broomstick either. Anna was the only person I could borrow one from and this is all she had,” he admitted.

“Is that a Silver Arrow?” Ben asked, pointing to Caleb’s broomstick as he took his own. It felt heavier in his hands than a flying device ought to.

“You know your broomsticks!” Caleb said as he held it out for admiration.

“I know my history, actually,” Ben said, though he was pleased at Caleb’s reaction. “I’ve seen them in a few history books, they’re an older broom. I thought they stopped making them?”

“They did, but this one’s been in my family for forever,” Caleb explained. “My families been broomstick makers for centuries, so this old thing gets a revamp by each of its new owners. When my grandfather had it he made the balance better, good enough to match any of the newer models, and when my mum had it she fixed the design, made it real showy, and a lot lighter. I worked on the speed, of course. It’s not as fast as I want it to be yet, but I’ll get it there.”

All of this was fascinating to Ben. Students at Beauxbatons didn’t come from families of craft workers. They were all in politics or Ministry work or just had money, and if they did have any family with working class careers they would never tell. It was refreshing and exciting in a way to listen to someone so passionate about their families business. And of course Caleb was talented at broomstick making, in fact Ben couldn’t think of a single thing he imagined Caleb wouldn’t possess a talent for. Ben felt he had never, and would never, meet anyone like Caleb ever again.

“You ready to get started?” Caleb finally asked, and Ben couldn’t have been less ready but he nodded anyway.

Caleb started Ben off easy with children’s practice. He was able to raise the broom to his hand by command after a few tries and with a little bit of guiding from Caleb he managed to hover a few feet off the ground. He had balance issues though, and he was too afraid of falling, at least according to Caleb. Despite spending two hours together, hovering was all Ben was able to accomplish.

“My classmates are gonna kill me,” Ben said after tumbling to the ground for the third time that evening. Caleb laughed and went to help him up. He gripped Ben’s hand tight and pulled him up and Ben felt just slightly light-headed for the physical contact. Caleb’s hands were callused and strong, likely from his years of experience on broomsticks, but it still felt warm and comforting. There was something genuine about Caleb, something infectiously happy about him that Ben couldn’t imitate or stop admiring. He embodied the word charming.

“What, did you think you were gonna pick up flying in one night?” Caleb said and Ben shrugged. “Flying’s not like arithmancy or potions, you can’t just follow a book’s instructions and figure it out, you have to practice at it.”

“Well, I haven’t got that much practice time! It’s already January 31st, the second task is on the 24th of February, I have to figure this out by then.”

“Alright, so we can meet here again every night until the 24th,” Caleb said with a shrug.

“You’d be willing to do that?” Ben asked, surprised at Caleb’s enthusiasm in helping him.

“I told you, I owe you one,” Caleb replied. “Besides, I need more practice time as well. I don’t know what the task is, so I need to work on everything!”

By the way Caleb already flew Ben seriously doubted he needed to practice anything at all, but if Caleb wanted to keep meeting up with him, that was perfectly fine. He couldn’t imagine a better way to spend his evenings than with Caleb, no matter how much sleep he lost because of it.


	11. Caleb

“Not bad Benny!” Caleb said as Ben tossed the Quaffle into the hoop. In the past few weeks they’d been practicing together Ben had gotten comfortable enough that Caleb decided he could graduate to some mock Quidditch games. It was just the two of them flying around, tossing the Quaffle to one another, but it was good practice and a good time anyway. Ben wasn’t perfect on a broom, he wobbled if he was going too slow but he couldn’t make himself go fast enough to be truly steady. Still, the threat of getting whacked in the face with a ball seemed to be doing him some good, convincing him to move a little faster and hold a little steadier.

Caleb couldn’t imagine why he’d had so much initial animosity towards Ben. The two had done nothing that past few weeks but laugh and talk and have a wonderful time. Caleb managed to sneak some food out for them once in a while, and Ben listened to everything he said with an intensity that was almost shocking. He was sweet like that.

“How do you handle doing this and avoiding the Bludgers?” Ben asked in reference to Caleb’s position as his teams Beater as he flew down to collect the Quaffle he’d just thrown.

“I’ve been playing since I was 3, it just comes naturally to me,” Caleb shouted and he could feel Ben rolling his eyes. Caleb laughed in response as Ben chucked the grooved ball back at him. Catching it with one hand, Caleb lowered himself to the ground.

“You think you’re ready?” Caleb asked as Ben followed him down. His watch read 3:37 in the morning. There was officially the morning of the second task.

“I’m not sure,” Ben replied. “I’m not sure it’s possible to be ready enough.”

That Caleb could understood. He was a better flyer than Ben and most of his house, but even he was nervous about the task. The 24th had crept up on him and he’d spent a lot of time helping Ben and very little time working on himself. He figured he was still better off for all the airtime he’d gotten since they started in January, but he wasn’t sure what was coming for him on the following morning and he wished he felt more prepared.

“Do you wanna keep going or should we rest up for task?” Caleb asked, and Ben mulled his options over.

“It might be better to get some sleep,” Ben said finally, though he looked disappointed at that conclusion. Caleb had to assume it was worry over the task.

“Alright,” Caleb nodded as he began the process of collecting all their things.

“Would Anna mind if I borrowed this for the morning?” Ben asked suddenly, in reference to the broomstick in his hand. “If we were supposed to figure out the clue on our own I suspect we’ll be expected to have acquired our own broomstick as well, and I’ve been practicing on this one so I’m at least somewhat comfortable with it already.”

“Yeah, you should be alright to keep it for the day,” Caleb said. “She’s let you use it this whole time, and if anything happens to it I’m sure I can convince my parents to give her a new one for free. They like Anna, and in the name of the Triwizard Tournament I’m sure they’d understand.”

Ben smiled, and nodded, and shuffled his feet. He looked like he wasn’t quite ready to leave yet, but Caleb wasn’t sure what else there was to say.

“I’m going to miss this a lot,” Ben said suddenly, and Caleb was confused.

“Miss what?”

“Practicing with you,” he said. “I’ve looked forward to it every night since the first time you invited me, and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to look forward to after the second task.”

Caleb wasn’t sure what to do with that. He felt on the spot and hurried to think of a polite response but he didn’t know one. He’d enjoyed the time as well, he’d liked being out here with Ben but for some reason he didn’t want him to know that. It felt like it was something too personal to say, and Caleb didn’t do personal. It wasn’t the way of him.

“Thanks,” he finally decided upon. Ben looked confused and Caleb knew he hadn’t made quite the right choice with his words. “I mean, yeah, this has been fun, sure. But we’re competing, remember. I helped you out because of what you did for me in the first task. We go back to being competitors tomorrow and neither of us owe the other anything anymore. We’re even.”

Despite saying the words himself he felt like they still weren’t right. It was true, they were competing, and they weren’t supposed to be helping each other, but it felt wrong to say it out loud. It felt wrong to say it to Ben.

“I helped you because I really like you,” Ben finally said and Caleb felt slightly unwell. “I really don’t care about being even or not, I never cared, I just liked being out here with you. You said I was spectacular in the first task and no one’s ever used that word to describe me, but you did and it was worth the wait to hear you say it. You make me happy in a way I’m really not used to and the only reason I’m glad I got chosen to be in this tournament is because I got to meet you.”

Anna and Abe had known the whole time that Ben liked Caleb. Caleb had been aware of some kind of attraction since Ben had asked him to the Yule Ball. He’d chosen to ignore trying to understand what his feelings were on the matter for as long as possible but Ben was asking him to deal with them right there that second and Caleb had to be upset with him. He was putting him on the spot just before the second task and it wasn’t fair. They had to be competitors. They weren’t even supposed to be friends.

“You can’t fall in love with every person who does something nice for you,” Caleb said and walked away. It was what he wanted to say, but it didn’t make him feel better. If anything he felt worse. But this was Ben’s fault, not his. He didn’t understand things the way Caleb did, he just said what he was feeling and didn’t think about the consequences. Caleb wanted to win this competition so badly and he couldn’t be worried about Ben the whole time.

“Nasty trick he’s pulling,” a voice said from the edge of the Quidditch pitch. John Simcoe was leaning against the stands.

“The hell are you doing here?” Caleb asked, for some reason holding up his broomstick like a weapon as though he was under attack.

“Someone told me you were sneaking out to the pitch to practice. I figured out the clue months ago, but it looks like you two got a late start.”

Assuming Simcoe was just there to gloat Caleb kept walking, but Simcoe wasn’t finished apparently and he met Caleb’s pace as he headed towards the castle.

“He doesn’t belong in this tournament and he knows it,” Simcoe said but Caleb kept walking.

“The Goblet of Fire chose him for a reason,” Caleb replied.

“Because he’s clever enough to convince you to do everything for him.” That made Caleb stop.

“Do everything for him? He came in last place the first competition; if he was relying on me to help him somehow I sure did a lousy job.”

“He got you to owe him a favour though.” That was true, but Caleb wasn’t going to acknowledge it.

“Do you actually have something to tell me or are you just here to talk shit about Ben because I don’t have time for this.”

“He doesn’t actually like you,” Simcoe said finally. “He’s too smart to play that dumb. He got you to help him with flying practice, give up your time to practice on your own, and he’s well on his way to convincing you to go easy on him in the next task if you buy his lovesick nonsense.”

“He’s not like you, Simcoe. He didn’t even want to compete, he knows he doesn’t have the same skills as the rest of his school-”

“-so he needs to compensate somehow,” Simcoe finished. “Even the playing field a little, wouldn’t you say? Now how would a clever, bookish person do that? Maybe use another competitor to get ahead?”

Logistically, it made sense. Emotionally, however, it wasn’t adding up. If it had been anyone else Caleb might understand where Simcoe was coming from, but Ben was nice. Nicer than Caleb, for sure.

“I wouldn’t think of you as someone who likes getting used,” Simcoe said.

“I’m someone who knows when they’re not, actually,” Caleb responded and he tried to start walking again.

“I bet he invited you to the Yule Ball,” Simcoe called and Caleb stopped again. “I bet it was his idea to go together, and look how much attention you both got for it. How much attention he got for it. I bet he figured out the clue before you, even told you what the second task was. I bet he pulled a good frightened face and you leapt settle your debt by helping him train. I bet you anything he knows exactly what he’s doing even if you don’t like it.”

He had asked Caleb to the ball. He had figured out the clue and told Caleb, and he didn’t have to. Caleb hadn’t told him about the first task. He told because he needed help. Caleb felt like there was a rock in his stomach. Things were starting to add up. Ben got Caleb to take him to the ball, got him to train him, even got Caleb to lend him a broomstick to the next day. No one was that nice without a reason.

“Why would you tell me any of this?” Caleb asked, storming back over to Simcoe. “Why would you be so _generous_ with this information?”

“Because this competition is supposed to be between you and me. If he’s got you wrapped around his finger then it’s you against me to benefit him and I’d rather lose to you than some Beauxbatons waft who shouldn’t even be in the same rank as us.”

“I’m not wrapped around anyone’s finger, and this fight _is_ between you and I. I don’t owe Ben anything anymore and tomorrow is fair game. Get ready for a losing streak.”

The walk back to the castle was a miserable one. He’d been having a good time with Ben. That had to end tomorrow. If he had been used by Ben it wasn’t going to happen again. He had a tournament to win and Simcoe was right: Unless Caleb helped him Ben didn’t stand a chance.


	12. Ben

Ben didn’t get any sleep at all. He was worried about the task at one moment, then Caleb the next. He should have kept his mouth shut, he never knew when to stop talking. Of course Caleb wasn’t interest in him as anything more than friends, he knew that and he said something anyway. But he was nervous and Caleb was sure to understand that. He’d just made Caleb uncomfortable is all, and he was sure he could resolve that with some time. It just always felt as though he couldn’t stop making Caleb upset with him.

“Tallmadge,” Headmaster Arnold shouted unnecessarily as he entered the main area of the carriage. “I trust you’re prepared for this task better than the last one.”

There was a snort from the side of the room but Ben held up his broomstick as an answer, which sent the room into confusion. Ben hadn’t said what the second task was. Everyone assumed he would tell them once he figured out the clue, but Ben hadn’t felt particularly inspired to let anyone know anything so he kept it to himself. Funny he was able to keep his mouth shut about that but with Caleb he said whatever he was thinking. He needed to work on that.

“The second task is flying?” Arnold cried out. The room looked worried. They all knew he couldn’t fly.

“Where did you even get that?” Bradford asked, coming over to look at the broom.

“A friend loaned it to me for the task,” Ben said.

“You told someone from another school about the task without telling us?” Arnold seemed upset, which Ben would usually mind, but he was more concerned with feeling upset over the second task and the Caleb situation, so he pushed past it. Of course everyone would know it had to come from someone outside of Beauxbatons: Ben didn’t have any friends in school.

“It’s all part of my strategy,” Ben said with mock causality. He didn’t tell them that it was part of his strategy to win over Caleb rather than to win the tournament.

“Glad to hear you’re finally taking this seriously,” Headmaster Arnold replied and he sounded almost proud. “I’ll have to hope part of your strategy was learning how to you that after you acquired it.”

With that everyone began the process of exiting the carriage and heading off towards wherever the second task was taking place. They would be told where to go to watch whereas Ben was supposed to guess the location from the clue. He assumed it would be the Quidditch pitch, and he was right as he saw the stadium filed with Hogwarts students upon his arrival.

Once he arrived he was ushered up a winding set of stairs by a frazzled professor until he arrived on a perch overlooking the entire grounds of Hogwarts. Caleb and Simcoe were there with him, having arrived just before him apparently.

  “Hey Caleb,” he said, but Caleb just shrugged and looked over his broomstick. Ben assumed he was still uncomfortable regarding Ben’s behavior yesterday and he could let Caleb have that. He had presumed too much. Still, it wasn’t making him feel any better to know Caleb would be thinking poorly of him throughout the challenge.

Thinking of the challenge inspired Ben to actually look and see what it was. They were high above the Quidditch pitch, but it didn’t look like they were going to be playing a match anytime soon. Instead there were giant floating rings in a sort of path through the sky at varying heights. Looking around the hoops could be seen all over the grounds.

“Good morning champions,” Headmaster Washington said as he appeared from the stairs Ben had come up through. “I see all of you figured out the clue,” he continued, nodding to each of their broomsticks. “The task before you is an aerial obstacle course. You need to follow the rings and arrive back here before time runs out. The object is to go through as many rings as possible as fast as possible. That means if you get back here first, but missed too many rings, you are not necessarily the winner. Ring count and speed are both going to count for your score. Beware of obstacles in your way along the path. Good luck.”

Speed was not Ben’s strong suit. But he had been good at steering as far as he remembered, and he was able to dodge the Quaffle when Caleb threw it at him, so even if he wasn’t fast, he felt sure he could get points for making the rings.

Ben got in line on the edge of the podium next to Caleb as they waited for the race to start.

“You’re a shoe in for this one,” Ben said as he threw his leg over his borrowed broom.

“Yeah,” Caleb agreed. “No thanks to you.”

A puzzled look appeared on Ben’s face. It sounded like Caleb was accusing Ben of trying to hinder him in some way. It was possible he just meant that Ben had thrown him off a little the night before, but it felt deeper than that. Ben didn’t have too much time to concern himself with the matter though as a whistle was blown and the task began.

Caleb and Simcoe both took off at an incredible speed while Ben tried to force himself into feeling alright with the speed he was at. The first hoop was easy to find and go through, all three champions making that one, the second one was a sharp dive down that Caleb and Ben both made but Simcoe missed after Caleb cut him off. It was easy for Ben to avoid collisions on the course as he was trailing behind the other two. They had to fight to make the rings, he got them all to himself.

The hoops on the Qudditch pitch were all fairly open and easy, but Ben remembered what Washington had said about obstacles in the way and he had to be prepared for whatever was coming. He figured out what that was when the rings led into the Forbidden Forest. Ben slowed his speed just a little to avoid being caught in the close-knit trees that kept the forest dark. He could still see Caleb and Simcoe in front of him but they had quite a lead. Caleb was vicious about claiming the rings though and he wasn’t afraid at all to use force in keeping Simcoe from getting them. Ben didn’t understand why Simcoe didn’t just spin around to get the ones he missed, but it occurred to him that he was too proud to let Caleb get ahead of him. But speed wasn’t all that mattered, and Ben was careful about getting through each hoop saw.

The forest got darker the deeper they went and the rings became harder to see. Ben slowed down again for a moment to let his eyes adjust before he continued onwards. Caleb and Simcoe both appeared to miss a few rings as their eyes missed the subtle golden tint in the shadows. Caleb and Simcoe both almost missed the ring leading out of the forest, as it was above the trees leading them into soaring over the forest to collect more. Ben was covered in scraps and cuts from the trees he’d passed in the forest and was more than happy to be out of it until he saw how high the rings were going. There was a straight vertical path of rings that led up higher than Ben had ever gone. He should have been frightened, but there was adrenaline moving through him and he shot up into the sky, following the path of Caleb and Simcoe. They were quite a ways ahead of him now, but in the clear brightness of the February sky Ben could see them perfectly. They were still fighting for rings, and it looked like Caleb was still winning. Simcoe was the tallest of all of them, which made it harder to fit through the hoops, meanwhile Caleb was heavier than Simcoe, giving him the advantage of being able to give a good shove out when the time called. He must have been a monster on the Quidditch pitch.

High in the sky the rings were spread out more so Ben was dodging left then banging far rights then shooting high and low to get them all. They were getting smaller too and Ben ended up bending completely over his broom to get through them all. It also didn’t help that the smallest hoops were surrounded by fire. Ben made each one, but his right forearm caught on fire briefly as he went through the last one. Ben was able to rub it out quickly, aided by the heavy wind from the height, but it still managed to burn through and hurt quite a bit.

At last the hoops led down closer to the ground but straight towards the chasms of the Hogwarts underground. It wouldn’t have been too bad if the caverns hadn’t been enchanted in some way to drop rocks and stalactites at random. Caleb and Simcoe still moved further ahead of Ben as he slowed down once again to access the situation. The falling wasn’t random, magic didn’t work like that. There was a pattern somewhere and if he could figure it out he could move faster and get all through all the hoops. Moving at a slowed down pace Ben counted out seconds between the falling objects, and tracked the distance between where objects fell and where they didn’t. In no time at all he had a count for when and where he had to avoid something and he was able to catch up his speed and hit all the rings.

Despite his figuring the pattern out, Caleb hadn’t had the same idea and seemed to narrowly miss getting hit too many times for comfort. It didn’t help that Simcoe seemed to be edging him towards danger. The two missed more rings still as they battled the collapsing ceiling and each other. Ben earned a few bangs and bruises as light traces of rubble brushed his skin, but Caleb took a nasty whack to the arm thanks to Simcoe’s shoving and a rogue stalactite that looked pretty bad. Nevertheless he carried on at the same speed as before, though Ben could tell he was in a lot of pain. It was admirable in Ben’s mind, but also disconcerting. If he was badly injured continuing flying could make it worse. Ben would have to worry about that all the way until the end of the course though, as Caleb made no moves to stop or slow down and Ben couldn’t catch up even if he tried.

Out of the caverns at last the three champions emerged behind the school and just above the Great Lake. The rings dipped low again so the path led directly across the top of the lake and Simcoe and Caleb fought each other for the rings above it which appeared to be in a neat, straightforward line except for occasional bursts of water which did almost nothing to hinder anyone at all. Ben took this moment to slow down again. This part of the challenge seemed to easy and he was sure he was missing something. It was as he approached the last ring that he noticed his mistake: there were ring under the water as well. And the seemingly unimportant bursts of water were air bubbles passing from the water to the surface in timed intervals. Ben pulled a full stop and made a quick choice. He had no chance of beating Caleb or Simcoe for speed, but if he got every ring he had a shot at a decent score. So he turned around and flew back to the beginning of the lake, waited for a pocket of air to appear for him to dive through, and flew down. The air bubble traveled wicked fast and Ben struggled immensely to keep up, but he wasn’t as nervous underwater as he was in the air and he kept pace as he flew in and out of the water in the air pockets to collect the hoops he’d missed.

When he emerged from the water Simcoe and Caleb were barely in sight, having missed or chosen to ignore the underwater rings in favour of speed. Ben tried his best to catch up somewhat, but his focus was on the rings and his confidence on his broomstick wasn’t quite up to par with the others, so he remained trailing behind as the Quidditch pitch came back into view. The rings back to it suddenly changed from circular to specific shapes and Ben started having to contort his body in order to get through. From a distance he could see Simcoe attempt to fit one at too quick a speed and smack his head directly into one of them. He seemed disoriented for a moment, stopping mid-flight and sinking a little as he touched his likely bleeding forehead, but he wasn’t down for long as he skipped a few more rings to catch up with Caleb, but to no avail. Ben heard cheering well before Simcoe even got back to full speed and knew Caleb had won first place for the racing part. Simcoe came in second not too long after Caleb, but Ben took at least a full thirty seconds after him to land.

It took only a second upon landing for Ben to realize how out of breathe and dizzy he was. He had been so focused on getting through the rings and keeping a good pace that he hadn’t even noticed how sick he had gotten from the flight. A nurse came up to Ben and began looking him over, tending first to his burned arm, then to his cuts and bruises from the forest and caverns. Looking over Ben saw a nurse attending Simcoe and Caleb as well. Simcoe was getting his forehead looked at, which was bleeding but not too badly, and Caleb was getting his left arm looked, which was still bleeding exceptionally badly. Caleb himself looked like he didn’t care but the nurse helping him looked concerned. Everyone around him looked concerned as a matter of fact. Ben wanted to go over to ask if he was alright, but he was still dizzy and queasy and couldn’t think about moving without feeling sick and he figured it was best if he stayed where he was until they announced the scores.

“The judges have checked your times of arrival and tallied up your total ring count, both of which are a part of your overall score,” Hogwarts Headmaster Washington announced across the stadium suddenly. “Given that, with a first place time of arrival and a ring accuracy percentage of 79%, first place goes to Caleb Brewster with a score of 45 out of 50 possible points.”

A cheer went up through the crowds as all the Hogwarts students in the stands stood up to cheer for their champion.

“Despite coming in last place for time of arrival, Ben Tallmadge had a 100% accuracy on his ring count, and for that the judges have awarded him second place with a close 43 points.”

Ben felt a wash of relief come over him. He wasn’t last. He’d made it to second place.

“And with a second place time of arrival and a ring accuracy count of just 49%, John Simcoe takes third place and 30 points.”

No one on the podium heard that last bit though as Simcoe shouted several profanities almost all at once. He obviously wasn’t pleased with his placing. He also wouldn’t be please when he did the math and found out he and Ben were now tied for second place regarding overall points, where they were now both at 76, and Caleb had taken the lead with 80 points.

Nurses were still tending to an ecstatic Caleb’s arm when Ben finally felt well enough to go over and talk to him.

“I’m really happy for you,” Ben said and Caleb didn’t respond, but he didn’t look too upset either so that had to be an alright sign. “You’re in first place now!”

“You’re in second with Simcoe,” Caleb added. He’d done the math too.

“Thanks to you,” he said with a smile though Caleb didn’t smile back. Ben knew he had to be experiencing varying degrees of pain, so he could cut him some slack on that front.

“Anna’ll want her broom back,” Caleb finally said.

“Oh, yeah, right. Could I give it to her in person? I want to thank her for letting me borrow it.”

“I can just take it to her myself-” Caleb started but was interrupted by the arrival of Anna herself, along with Abe. They seemed ready to congratulate Caleb, but when they saw Ben they gave him a smile and shot a glare at Caleb for a reason he couldn’t understand.

“Fantastic job, Ben,” Anna said, giving him a quick clap on the shoulder. “Great work with the rings under the lake! Everyone else missed those! Even you Caleb.”

Ben smiled in response, but he could sense some animosity between the three friends. If the Caleb had been in a fight with Anna and Abe it might explain why he seemed slightly miserable.

“This is yours,” Ben said quickly, handing the Comet Two Ninety to Anna. “Thank you so much for letting me borrow it. If I damaged it at all I can pay for the repairs.”

“Repairs? Are you kidding?” Abe laughed. “It has any damage at all she’s gonna frame it with a plaque that says it was used in the Triwizard Tournamet.”

Anna laughed, but also nodded in agreement as she looked the broom over. It seemed in find condition, but then Ben had only ever really seen it late at night so he couldn’t know what it looked like before he started using it so many weeks ago.

“Shouldn’t you go celebrate with your school?” Caleb said suddenly and Ben realized he was being asked to leave. Anna rolled her eyes at Caleb, but smiled at Ben as he nodded and began to leave.

“If I had things my way I’d have given you first place,” Anna called as Ben disappeared down the stairs of the podium. He felt his face get hot. Caleb wouldn’t be happy about her saying that. Whatever had gone down between the three of them must have been bad.


	13. Caleb

Caleb had thought this one time Anna and Abe would agree with him regarding at least being slightly wary of Ben. This could not have been further from the truth. The minute he conveyed to them what Simcoe had said they automatically sided with Ben, which he though was particularly unfair as they were his friends first. He initially just told them what Simcoe had said, but when they didn’t believe him about Ben using him emotionally he told them about Ben and his last conversation. This resulted in his friends just becoming angrier at him. Caleb tried to explain that he didn’t necessarily believe Ben _was_ using him, but that it was a possibility that he should be cautious of. Anna and Abe vehemently disagreed and went off the walls berating Caleb for doing this to Ben _again_ just when they were starting to get along.

There was a part of Caleb that told him Anna and Abe were right, and that he was being overly suspicious for no good reason, but this part was at odds with the side of him that had decided he couldn’t have any kind of feelings for Ben at all, platonic or otherwise, and still win the Triwizard Tournament. He couldn’t be distracted by trying to deal with his emotions right now, he had to focus on winning, and it was driving him up the wall that no one was understanding that. Why did it matter how Ben felt? He was only going to be there for another few months and then he would be gone, like he never existed. Why get too attached to something temporary?

Despite their anger they had wished Caleb well on the second task, and they did seem pleased that he’d won first place and taken the lead, but after his behavior on the podium they’d decided to stop speaking to Caleb completely. Caleb could sort of understand that as well. Ben had done well in the second task and he hadn’t officially tried to do anything against Caleb or Simcoe. He even seemed genuinely pleased that Caleb had taken first place. He recalled what Ben had said in the dark hours of the morning, that he didn’t care about winning he was only glad he was part of the tournament because he got to spend time with Caleb. In the grand scheme of things Caleb wasn’t sure why he was being such a prick to Ben, or why he had been to begin with. He was smart, and interesting, and nice, and he’d never outright and upfront done anything to hurt Caleb. He just couldn’t understand why he felt so aloof about him.

“When are you two gonna knock this off?” Caleb asked at dinner. His two friends were still hanging out around him talking to each other, but they were making a point of excluding Caleb from their conversations. Anna waited to respond, having to decide whether she would or not, then sighed and turned away from Abe.

“When are you going to apologize to Ben?” she asked.

“Apologize for what?”

“For being a total ass since October 30th,” Abe pitched in.

“Yeah, maybe I am being one, but we’re competitors, we don’t have to be friends!” Caleb said.

“Then why did you bother telling him you were? You told him you were at the Yule Ball, why toy with him like that?” Anna said.

“I’m not toying with him, I’m just… undecided on how I feel about him,” Caleb said, but his voice was wavering. He didn’t like that he was being accused of toying with Ben. That wasn’t what he was doing, not intentionally, but he could see where they were getting that from. He could see how it looked. He hoped Ben didn’t feel the same way.

“Undecided?” Abe echoed, his eyebrow arched.

“I just… Can we not talk about this right here?” Caleb said. “I won the second task today and I’m in first place, can we be happy for five minutes?”

“You can’t keep acting like this Caleb,” Anna sighed.

“Like what?”

“Like you can just ignore all your mistakes and problems and have them magically disappear,” she said. “You messed up, you’ve been messing up all year with Ben, and you keep acting like it’s fine, like even when you’re wrong you’re right, like any problem that comes up is one you can keep choosing to deal with later. You keep making the same mistake and keep being shocked at the result. You keep misjudging, degrading, and emotionally injuring Ben and then you act like we all need to be okay with it because of this reason, or that excuse. We’ve been pussy-footing around the problem all year, and it’s not Ben or this competition, it’s you. Figure out what’s actually important to you and let me know what you decide.”

Anna got up and left after that. Some of the Gryffindor table heard her but they were polite enough to pretend they hadn’t. Abe sat quietly for a moment and Caleb thought maybe he would stay with him.

“I don’t know why you’re acting the way you are, or why you keep treating Ben the way you do, but I like him,” Abe said, calm and casual. “What is it about him that you don’t like?”

“Nothing. I don’t know,” Caleb stuttered. He felt angry all of a sudden but he couldn’t figure out who with until he remembered that you can be angry with yourself.

“Whatever you decide you feel about him, you still need to make this up to him,” he said. “I know you think he’s using you or something but as far as I can tell the only one who looks like they’re taking advantage of someone is you.”

Abe left after that as well and Caleb was left alone. He felt the worst he had in a long while. He should have been happy, he’d won the day after all, but instead he was sitting alone at a table feeling absolutely miserable. He looked over at the Ravenclaw table, but the Beauxbatons students still hadn’t shown up. They might have been celebrating on their own, supposing any of them were treating Ben better than usual. They couldn’t be doing worse than Caleb though, which was really saying something.

Having lost his appetite, Caleb decided to make his way upstairs to go to bed. He wanted to talk to Ben, but he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know why he was being the way he was. Everything felt wrong all of a sudden, or maybe it had been that way for a while and Caleb had chosen to ignore it. That sounded like something he would do.

Caleb lay in bed awake for several hours when he saw someone appear by his bed.

“Holy shit!” Caleb hissed, jumping out of his sheets, positive he was hallucinating. “Ben?”

“Maybe…” was the tentative reply.

“How did you get in here?” Caleb whispered as he looked around to make sure no one had seen him come in.

“I paid a Robert Townsend to give me the password,” Ben said, and Caleb shrugged. That sounded like something Robert would do. “And no one actually guards the doors to the castle. Sneaking into Hogwarts is much too easy.”

Caleb had to agree with that as well. They really needed to work on their internal security.

“OK, but what are you doing here? Is something wrong?” Caleb asked, genuinely concerned.

“No, not really,” Ben said, stumbling over his words a bit. “I just wanted to talk about what happened this morning and I was going to wait but I couldn’t sleep and I wanted to say that I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable last night. I was worried about the task and I just opened my mouth. I didn’t mean to make you upset, really. I never mean to, I just can’t stop doing it is all. I shouldn’t have ever come here, I just keep causing problems for you and your friends.”

“Ben, just, stop,” Caleb said, not sure if he was interrupting or not but deciding he’d heard enough. “Sit down, I gotta talk to you too.”

Caleb gestured to his bed and Ben sat down in front of him.

“You’ve never caused problems for me. Ever,” he began. “You’ve been nothing but nice and genuine this whole time, I’m just an ass.”

Ben looked like he wanted to object but Caleb held out a hand and Ben let him continue.

“You didn’t do anything to insult me that day we met when you came to our table to thank me for catching you. I told myself you’d come over to gloat about your team, which wasn’t true, but that’s what I told everyone I thought. You didn’t do anything to upset me when we were in the room together after we’d both been chosen by the Goblet, I’d just already decided I couldn’t like you and wanted to make you feel unwelcome. I told myself you were some kind of arrogant bastard so I couldn’t tell you about the first challenge but the truth is I just wanted to win and I was gonna do whatever it took to do that. And you didn’t do anything wrong this morning, you’re allowed to tell me how you feel, I just didn’t wanna have to deal with how I feel about you right then and there so I made it your fault and it was mine. I treated you like shit at the podium today because Simcoe gave me some ludicrous bullshit story about how you were just using me to get ahead and I wanted so badly to not have to deal with how badly I’ve been treating you and if I believed you weren’t being genuine I wouldn’t have to so I acted like it was true when I knew it wasn’t. And I’m sorry.”

There was a silence in the room as Ben processed all of this and Caleb tried to think of anything better to say than just a simple sorry.

“So I didn’t do anything wrong?” Ben said as much as asked and Caleb nodded.

“It was me not you the whole time,” Caleb replied. Whatever he was expecting Ben to feel after being told off of this, relief wasn’t on his list of expected emotions.

“I’ve spent this whole time thinking I’ve been doing something wrong, I’ve been so worried, but the problem was so small the whole time!” he said, and he looked happy. Caleb wasn’t sure what to do with that.

“You don’t sound too upset about this,” Caleb said. It wasn’t that he wanted Ben to be mad at him, but this wasn’t the response he was expecting. He wasn’t sure Ben fully understood what Caleb was telling him, because people didn’t usually get excited after finding out someone was intentionally being a prick to them. “I just told you I’ve been treating you like shit all year for no reason and you seem… happy about it?”

“I’m happy because you told me. Because I’m not doing anything wrong, you just got overly competitive early on, and yeah you took a while to get past that, but you’ve dealt with it so we get to move on be actual friends! You thought I would be upset if you told me you actually liked me you just got stuck in a pattern of acting like you didn’t? I came here thinking you were going to tell me that we can’t be friends anymore because of what I said, and you’re telling me the opposite.”

“Why did you think I’d say we couldn’t be friends anymore?” Caleb asked.

“You just seemed really uncomfortable about the whole thing, and we’re at different places with how we feel about each other, and I thought you just barely liked me so it wouldn’t be hard for you to drop me,” Ben explained.

“I’m really sorry I made you feel like that,” Caleb said. “I know your school treats you like garbage, but you’re worth all of them combined.”

There wasn’t a response to that. Ben looked like he didn’t know what to say, like he had become the word bittersweet. Caleb remembered what Ben had said that morning, about how it was worth the wait to hear Caleb call him spectacular. He didn’t understand what that meant at the time, but he did now. He meant Caleb’s opinion, to him, was worth more than anyone else’s. For a moment Caleb felt a fear run through him. No one had ever put him on a pedestal like that and he didn’t know what to do with someone who felt that way about him. And then he did know.

“I think I really like you too, Ben,” Caleb said, and Ben stayed quiet for a second.

“What?”

“I think,” Caleb started, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. “I think I have issues with understanding and dealing with my emotions.”

Ben cut Caleb off with a laugh.

“You think!” he said sarcastically, and Caleb snorted a laugh in return. Of course he did. That’s why both of them were where they were.

“I mean, I’m bad at figuring out what I’m feeling,” Caleb continued. “I got so caught up in pretending I didn’t like you that I put aside everything else I felt about you. You’re nice, Ben. You’ve put up with me this whole time. I like spending time with you, A lot! I wouldn’t have done any of the stuff I did if I hadn’t, no matter what I said. I took you to the Yule Ball because I like you. I helped you with flying because I like you. I might even like you more than you like me, I’m just shit at showing it. You have nice hair and great ass and better personality than me, and I had a point to this, where was I going…”

Caleb trailed off as Ben looked puzzled. There was a sigh, and Caleb made up his mind to try something new. There was a second of pause and then Caleb pulled a star struck Ben towards him. There wasn’t any resistance at all as Caleb pressed his lips to Ben’s, except for the subtle shakes of Ben’s hands. Caleb hoped that was nerves. The kiss was soft, and sweet, and short, as Caleb retracted himself to give Ben a chance to think.

“Alright,” was Ben’s diplomatic and bewildered response and Caleb laughed.

“Not exactly what I was looking for, but is that a good thing or…”

“Yes, I mean, sort of, I’m just kind of confused, you’ve gone through a lot of emotions in one day and I just want to make sure this one is real.”

There was a sigh from Caleb. Ben had a point. He would have to work for this, at least a little bit.

“I’m gonna make all of this up to you, and you’re gonna know I’m not faking anything this time,” Caleb said firmly, and he got a smile out of Ben before the other man closed the gap between them again. This kiss was longer than the first one. It felt almost like Ben was trying to figure out how to make it last as he tilted and shifted position against Caleb’s mouth. It was a solid few minutes before Caleb pulled away.

“Even if this is another mood swing of yours, I can enjoy it while it lasts,” Ben said, which bothered Caleb a little bit, but he knew he had work to do in the convincing department. Still, Ben was right, it was enjoyable.

“You wanna stay here tonight?” Caleb asked, and Ben’s eyebrow lifted. “Just to sleep,” Caleb clarified. Ben thought about it for a moment then shrugged and moved himself up in the bed so he was sitting side by side with Caleb. There was a shared grin between the two and they lay down facing each other. Ben looked happy, genuinely happy, and Caleb was beyond thrilled that he was the reason.


	14. Ben

Ben didn’t bother going back to the carriage the following morning but instead went right down to breakfast with Caleb. When they got ready that morning Caleb told Ben what had happened between him and his friends and Ben wanted to mend that bond as soon as possible. They were justified in some ways for being upset Ben supposed, and it was decent of them to be upset on his behalf, but he’d rather they all got along, especially now that things seemed to have cleared up between him and Caleb.

Anna and Abe entered the Great Hall together and looked like they weren’t going towards Caleb, but Abe seemed to notice Ben and elbowed Anna into heading towards them.

“Ben!” Anna said, pleased but evidently surprised. “Where’s the rest of your school?”

“They haven’t showed up yet, if they’re coming,” he replied. “Sit down, we should talk.”

Both students took seats across from the already sitting pair and Ben tried to make the conversation as quick but deep as possible. He told them how Caleb had explained what was actually going on and that they’d sorted it all out last night. He thanked them for speaking for him when he wasn’t present, but that it wasn’t necessary anymore as he intended to have Caleb bring up any possible issues he had with him personally. Finally Caleb stepped up and apologized to both of them for how he acted and it was generally agreed that the conversation was uncomfortable and unpleasant but necessary and needed to happen.

“Alright, as long as we’re all friends again, how’s your arm Caleb,” Abe asked, nodding Caleb’s left arm and transitioning the conversation to more comfortable territory, if also slightly frightening. Ben had forgotten about Caleb’s injury and craned himself slightly to get a better look at it. There was nothing to see of course because Caleb had his robe over it, but Ben felt he had to look anyway. Still, when Abe mentioned it Caleb’s hand rose to touch where he’d been hit and he winced just slightly.

“It’s fine,” Caleb shrugged and Anna rolled her eyes.

“We just had a whole talk about you sharing your feelings better, and you lie to us. Brilliant.”

“I’m not lying,” Caleb said. “I’m just… downplaying the truth a little. It’s really not that bad, it’s just gonna take some time to heal. I guess I sliced a bunch of veins or something and it’s taking longer than usual.”

“You didn’t do anything, the stalactite did, and it was more Simcoe’s fault than anything,” Ben interjected. Caleb nodded.

“He was a bastard during the whole course!” Caleb said. “Bit him in the ass though because he didn’t get first place and he missed all those rings. I bet his school is throwing him a pity party right now.”

As Caleb spoke several owls emerged from the ceiling and dropped a delivery of the Daily Prophet in front of Abe.

“Let’s see if you made the front page again,” Abe said as he opened it up. He looked pleased at first, then his eyebrows furrowed together.

“What is it? What’d they print?” Caleb asked, leaning over the table to try and catch a few words.

“’An anonymous source claims Ben Tallmadge, Beauxbatons champion, is throwing the contest in an attempt to win the affections of Hogwarts champion Caleb Brewster’,” Abe read out-loud.

No one was quite sure what to do with that.

“What else does it say?” Ben finally asked.

“Basically says you’ve been sneaking around after hours trying to get it with Caleb, and you two have some kind of agreement to let Caleb win. Claims you intentionally slowed down on the obstacle course to give Caleb a better chance at first place,” Abe summarized. “Also says ‘according to the source, Brewster is disinterested in Tallmadge’s affections, but permits them in the hopes that it will get him the glory’.”

“Simcoe,” Caleb huffed.

“You think?” Anna asked.

“He’s the only one who knew we were meeting up after hours, and he pitched me a whole story about Ben using me emotionally, makes perfect sense!” Caleb said with a sneer.

“I don’t think so,” Ben pitched in, processing what he’d been told. “Simcoe told you that _I_ was using you, not the other way around. And he wasn’t the only one who knew. I think this is Bradford’s doing. He saw me leaving the first night I went to meet with you. And he made a few choice comments last night about how slow I was going.”

“Why would he do that though, I know he’s an ass, but you’re his school’s champion, shouldn’t he want you to win?” Caleb said.

“I think he honestly believe all of that,” Ben said, gesturing to the paper. “Maybe he’s hoping this will upset me and get me to step up my efforts or something. He might actually believe I’m intentionally losing to help you.”

“Are you?” Anna asked point-blank. Ben found he liked her more and more every minute. She was refreshingly honest.

“No, do I look like I am?”

“I can see where he’s coming from,” Abe said, finally pulling away from his newspaper. “You did let Caleb take first place in the first task-”

“-because he would have come in first if Simcoe hadn’t cheated, it was only fair.”

“-and it did sort of look like you slowed down every time you almost caught up to Caleb and Simcoe,” Abe added.

“I was stopping to think,” Ben explained. “Or try and avoid getting whacked off my broomstick. I’m not a fast flyer anyways. An certainly not a confident one.”

“I get that, but you have to see how it _could_ look if someone didn’t know that,” Abe continued. “Someone meaning everyone besides us.”

People around Ben had also begun reading their papers and were starting to stare. There were whispers echoing off the walls. Ben decided he didn’t mind. He’d put up with enough of that at Beauxbatons, and he could handle a little gossip.

“Why would the Daily Prophet even publish this shit?” Caleb asked, yanking the paper from Abe’s hands to look over it himself, eyeing the moving pictures of Ben allowing Caleb first place in the first task and Caleb and Ben together at the Yule Ball. Caleb obviously wasn’t used to be the center of attention for anything defamatory and he didn’t seem to be taking it well. While he wasn’t upset personally by the slander, it hurt to know Caleb was. It wasn’t fair for him to get dragged into Bradford’s attempts to insult Ben.

Ben tried to think for a minute before the door to the Great Hall opened and the Beauxbatons students arrived. Arnold’s eyes spotted Ben in an instant. Ben could see the newspaper in his hand. This was going to be messy.

“Tallmadge!” he called across the hall and everyone turned to look, either at Headmaster Arnold or Ben depending on where their interests lay.

“Looks like he’s done some reading,” Caleb said, and the back of his hand brushed Ben’s. It was subtle, but Ben knew that sign. It meant to give strength.

“Sir,” Ben said once he’d given a quick nod good-bye to the Gryffindor table and made his way over to where his school had congregated.

“We were wondering where you were this morning, then we read this insipid paper and we figured it out,” Arnold said much louder than he needed to. There was a snicker from Bradford and Ben took a deep breathe.

“I saw the paper as well, and I’m quite pleased to say that none of it’s true,” Ben said, as calm as he could manage. He felt hot and on the spot, but he had survived a mountain and flown hundreds of feet in the air. He could handle this.

“You’ll be displeased to hear that I don’t believe you,” was Arnold’s reply as he grabbed Ben by the scruff of his collar and led him out of the Great Hall. “From now on you don’t leave my side, and when they tell you what the third task is in May I will personally manage you’re training. I don’t want to see you with any of those students again, especially Caleb Brewster.”

Ben managed to wriggle himself free of Arnold’s grip but he kept walking beside him as the group headed out towards the carriage. He felt powerless, but also the faded sensation of Caleb’s hand brushing against his own. He stretched his hand. He would figure this out. He had friends now, he had Caleb, and he wasn’t going to lose any of that just because Arnold wanted to win a tournament.

The group was led back to the carriage where Arnold placed himself within arm’s reach of Ben at all times. It seemed to irk everyone present, however, that Ben was acting like he didn’t mind. Some of the other students seemed to waver in their resolve that the Daily Prophet was telling the truth and Ben wasn’t. Not enough to say anything, but enough to not look so smug all the time.

Before bed Headmaster Arnold put an enchantment on the door of the carriage to alert him if someone tried to leave. Ben had been anticipating that, but it still made things more challenging. Ben didn’t have a plan at all for how he was going to keep in contact with Caleb, but he was figuring one out piece by piece. Maybe he wasn’t the best choice for a Triwizard champion, but no one could say Ben Tallmadge wasn’t clever.

That night, when the carriage was quiet and dark, Ben pulled out the miniature broomstick he’d gotten in the first task. Ever so carefully he threw it across the room. It floated casually over the beds of his sleeping school mates and drifted back into his hands.

If there was one thing Ben was particularly adept at, it was finding patterns, and there had to be one to this broomstick. If he could figure it out, he could use a charm to change it. Ben threw it again, harder this time, but it still made the same path around the room at the same speed as before. Ben threw it yet again, this time in another direction and from a slightly higher height. It flew at the same height it was thrown at, and flew in the same pattern as the last two times, just not the same direction.

Ben had a pattern. He could get to work. Quietly, under the cover of his dark blanket, he worked different spells and charms on the tiny broomstick, testing it after each throw. Within several hours it could travel to a specified location in the carriage. By the early hours of the morning it was able to fly out the window and travel to deposit bits of paper in certain spots before returning to its owner. It was perfect.

Thinking quickly, but thoughtfully, as morning was fast approaching, Ben wrote a letter telling Caleb what had happened and how he was virtually under house arrest by an over-dramatic Arnold. He included instructions on what he had done to the little broomstick and how Caleb could replicate the results so his could do the same. He wrote to expect letters from him often, and that he would miss actual conversations with Caleb, but this was better than nothing. They were just going to have to make this work until the tournament was over and everyone went back to not caring what Ben did. In Ben’s mind that day couldn’t come fast enough. He hadn’t wanted to be part of this contest anyway. He just wanted to be with Caleb.

The letter was rolled up and wrapped around the body of the broomstick and with a swish of his wand and a whispered spell the enchanted object flew out of the window and up towards Gryffindor tower and Caleb Brewster’s bed. Several minutes passed before the little broom returned, without the letter, and Ben was left to hope it had gone to the right person. He would just have to wait until Caleb replied to find out.


	15. Caleb

Caleb needed two days and Abe and Anna’s help to get his miniature broomstick flying the same way as Ben’s did, but the team eventually got it to work. All three of them agreed to the fact that Ben figuring out how to make it work on his own, with no instruction, in one evening, was exactly why he’d been chosen as a Triwizard Champion. He had these secret talents that you had to pay attention to in order to notice.

While Caleb wanted to send a note the second they figured the enchantment out, he knew Ben couldn’t be caught getting letters from him, so he had to wait until nightfall when a small zooming broomstick wouldn’t be noticed. Ben had promised in his first letter to keep his window open, and he was good on his word, as he responded the night of Caleb’s first message.

It was exciting in a way, to have this secret relationship that only so many people could know about. For sure, Caleb would have preferred to see Ben in person, but there was a thrill in sending midnight letters to one another. The letters were never particularly long, and never contained any important information. They talked about their day, how they were feeling, anything interesting that had occurred. Ben never had too much to say regarding the latter, however, as he remained under house arrest by order of Benedict Arnold even after the gossip about Ben and Caleb died down. Ben guessed that he wanted to make sure Ben was fully prepared for the final task through his own training and prompting, meaning he could share in some of the glory if Ben won because he had ‘been the one to prepare him’.

Months went by and the two still never found a way to meet with each other in person. Ben couldn’t slip away from Arnold’s watch, or Bradford’s for that matter, and Caleb couldn’t get close enough without getting caught, so the two were forced to stay apart until the 24th of May when all the champions were called to be informed of the final task.

“You have any idea what it might be?” Anna asked as Caleb walked part of the way with his two friends.

“None at all,” Caleb shrugged. “Even Townsend hasn’t heard anything.” Caleb had asked, multiple times, with quite a lot of money to offer. But even Robert didn’t have answers for him.

“Think Ben knows anything?” Abe asked, half teasing.

“Nothing he wouldn’t tell me as well,” Caleb replied with a grin. He’d been so stupid the past few months, but he knew better now. Ben would have told him, and at this point in time, he would have told Ben anything as well. The task ahead seemed much more inviting now he felt they were in it together.

“This is where we leave you,” Abe said as they reached a stairway to the undergrounds of Hogwarts. Only champions would be allowed to meet with the challenge designer so the next task could be explained. Not even the headmasters would be present, which meant Arnold couldn’t come with Ben. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t go as far as possible however, and just as Abe and Anna had said their good-byes Caleb heard the resounding voice of the Beauxbatons headmaster.

“-you see you report to me. Every detail!” Caleb heard as he ducked for cover behind one of the decorative statues that flanked the staircase.

“I’ll tell you everything I can find out,” Ben agreed as they arrived at the first step. Caleb watched as Arnold paused for a moment, obviously debating whether he could risk it to go down and sneak a peek himself at the next task, but he apparently decided against it as he turned on his heel and began walking the opposite direction. Ben waited until he was gone to toss a poorly hidden Caleb a look.

“You think he saw me?” Caleb asked after he’d ducked out and grabbed Ben round the waist to pull closer.

“If he had he would have _definitely_ decided to try his luck at following me down,” Ben replied. “Are you excited?”

“I’m always excited to see you,” Caleb responded with a grin then gave a dramatic sigh and added: “Oh, you mean about the final task!”

Ben laughed and Caleb joined him and they linked hands as they began the trek down to the underbelly of the castle.

“Arnold’s been pulling every stop possible to try and figure out this task early,” Ben said. “He’s been sending the other Beauxbatons students on some ridiculous recon missions to snoop around.”

“Yeah, you told me,” Caleb said. “One of them got found wandering down one of the off-limits hallways and got a bad telling off when a professor saw him. Not that anyone _told_ the professor there was a shady looking character wandering down restricted areas…”

Caleb received a shoulder bump for that as they made it to the end of the stairwell. It became too dark to see so both of the pulled out their wands and said “Lumos” before continuing onward. It wasn’t long before a man Caleb didn’t know came into view, along with Simcoe, who naturally arrived earlier than necessary.

“Ah, good, you’re here,” the man said, not introducing himself, and not needing to. No one cared who designed the challenge, only what it was. He began walking without telling them to follow and the three champions figured it was implied and they followed behind as he led them deeper into the underground.

It was probably better if they didn’t, but Caleb and Ben continued to hold hands as they prepared to discover the last task. Simcoe noticed the casual familiarity, but didn’t say anything or make any motions regarding it.

The group was led to what looked like a freshly built all that blocked off the entire hallway, and though there was a door to go through it, they stopped before entering.

“The third task will be a series of tests to assess your cunning, problem solving skills, and magical ability. You will enter this door and complete challenges that are being designed and built as we speak. Each challenge will move you further along through the castle. The person to successfully discover the way out will be given the highest marks. Any questions?”

No one seemed to have any because the task seemed fairly straightforward to everyone. Solve the problems, get to the exit, win the task. Instead the three champions just stared at the sealed entranceway, trying to imagine what could be waiting for them behind it. They weren’t going to be told specifically of course, and the designer apparently didn’t want them hanging around too long, so he nodded at the lack of dialogue and began moving back to where they’d come from.

“Oh, yes,” the man suddenly said, turning back around to face the students. “And you’ll have to solve each problem in a certain amount of time. Each section will have an hourglass set with the time. If you fail to get out of the section in time, the room will collapse around you.”

Caleb’s face dropped. That seemed a fairly important part of the challenge to almost forget about. The man continued walking after that, leaving Caleb hoping no other important information had slipped this man’s mind. Before following the man, however, the three students lingered a moment, trying to catch any glimpse that would give something away, then reluctantly turned and began the journey back.

“You’ve got this one in the bag,” Caleb said softly but with confidence to Ben as they walked. Ben shrugged, but looked pleased at the praise.

“You mean _we’ve_ got this one. We’re a team, remember?” Ben replied as Caleb rolled his eyes.

“The one time you actually have a solid advantage over me and you decide to help. Typical.”

“You helped me fly,” Ben said, and that was true, but Caleb had never done as much as he could have to help Ben and he regretted that more than ever as Ben was going to be more than generous in sharing his surplus of knowledge in the final task.

“There are no teams in the Triwizard Tournament,” Simcoe said too loud for the space they were in and Caleb shot him a look. “But fine, share last place. Get crushed to death together for all I care. While you’re busy looking out for each other I’ll be looking out for me. I came here to win.”

“Winning, is that what they’re calling second place now?” Caleb threw back at him. “That’s what place you’re in after all. How’s your head anyway? Shame this task requires brain power after you knocked the last of your cells out when I beat your ass in the second task.”

Ben bit his lip to stifle a laugh while Simcoe tried to think of something clever to say back. He missed his chance though, as they finally caught up to the challenge designer at the base of the staircase.

“You can head back up now,” he said. “This area will be sealed as the task is still being designed over the next month, meaning I would spend that time developing your skills rather than trying to discover anything further. Good luck.”

That was an indication that they were meant to leave and the three champions began the trek back upstairs. Natural light eventually filled the curving stairway and all three were soon able to lower their wands and put them away.

“I don’t know how you knew the next task was going to be knowledge-based,” Simcoe hissed to Caleb, “but pulling Ben’s same dirty trick on him to get yourself ahead is more clever than I gave you credit for.”

Caleb was confused for a second before he remember his and Ben’s joined hands and he made a full-stop to face Simcoe.

“You’re telling me you’re absolutely willing to believe that Ben and I are both pretending to be interested in each other in order to win this competition before even considering the possibility that Ben and I might actually _just_ like each other?” Caleb asked incredulously. Simcoe seemed unperturbed by the comment.

“The prize for this competition is eternal glory,” Simcoe responded. “And you and I are equally matched for how much we want it. If I’d be willing to do it to win, I can bet you would be too.”

“Eat shit,” Ben finally chipped in and Caleb gave a cough of a laugh before the two kept walking on. Both Caleb and Simcoe were expecting more from Ben, but he had taken the short-and-simple approach apparently and the comment seemed altogether stronger that way.

“That’s not true,” Caleb said as they made it around a corner, out of sight and hearing-distance from Simcoe. “I’m not-”

“I know,” Ben said nodding assuredly. He didn’t have a touch of doubt in his voice. He was a better man than Caleb was in every respect, but his sense of trust was remarkable, and Caleb couldn’t see any better response than to drop Ben’s hand at last and press him against the wall for their first kiss in months. There was a moment of miscommunication as Caleb dropped his hand, but Ben picked up on what was happening fairly quickly and smiled against Caleb’s mouth as his back hit the wall. They stood like that for a while, fully aware they only had right now to be with each other before another month of separation. It seemed clear that Ben wasn’t wholly sure what to do in this situation, so Caleb did the best he could to guide his hands to his back and the base of his neck before returning his hands to their proper place on Ben’s hip and the side of his face. Everything felt slow and quiet for the several minutes they were locked together. It was like being underwater how murky and foggy everything felt.

“We leave you alone for one second!” a female voice shouted and Caleb laughed as he pulled away to face Anna.

“Should’ve left me alone for two, then maybe we’d have actually gotten somewhere,” Caleb replied and Anna rolled her eyes as she and Abe made their way across the hall to greet Caleb and Ben properly.

“Good to see you, Ben,” Anna said and Ben nodded, but was clearly embarrassed. Anna looked almost guilty for making him feel like that, then shrugged and directed her attention to Caleb.

“How’d it go?” she asked.

“Yeah, what’s the third task?” Abe added.

“It’s some set of problem-solving challenges you have to solve to find your way out of the Hogwarts underground,” Caleb replied. “Basically, we’ll have to use our heads to think our way out of this one.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Abe said. “What’s the catch?”

“If you don’t solve the problem in time the room’ll fall apart on top of you,” Ben said, having found his voice finally. Anna and Abe’s eyebrows jumped.

“You know, it’s shit like this…” Anna began, trailing off before she continued her thoughts. “They make you worry about completing these challenges all year so you don’t focus on your studies, and then they drop the challenge based on what you learned in school. Bullshit.”

“I think that’s the point,” Abe replied. “Probably trying to see how well you balanced the two.”

“Yeah, well, Caleb didn’t balance anything. How’s that potions grade, hm?” Anna quipped and Caleb pulled a face. Ben quirked an eyebrow at Caleb in response. Caleb hadn’t really mentioned his grades to him at all. They didn’t seem important enough to include.

“Yeah, alright, not good,” Caleb admitted. “But the rest are alright! I mean not great, obviously, because I was doing Triwizard prep most of the year, but I have a month to prepare. We’ll study some spells and riddles together and I’ll be great!”

Anna and Abe both looked unconvinced, but nodded in agreement to help Caleb prepare.

“I wish you could practice with us,” Caleb said to Ben. There was a nod, and Ben looked slightly forlorn.

“Yeah, instead I’ll be stuck with Headmaster Arnold, probably working on useless spells because that’s all he knows,” Ben responded.

“I’ll still be writing to you though,” Caleb said with a smile. “And just think, in one month this is all over and we can do whatever we want!”

Ben had to grin at that as the group all headed off; Caleb, Anna, and Abe off to the Great Hall and Ben off to the carriage. One more month. They just had to make it through the final task. Caleb hoped on hope that Ben didn’t lose too much study time with Arnold because if he wasn’t ready they were both goners.


	16. Ben

If there was a month in Ben’s life he never wanted to repeat, it was the one he’d just finished. After telling Headmaster Arnold the final task he was bothered nonstop everyday asking why he wasn’t practicing. Arnold failed to see how reading a book would help Ben in the task, which to Ben showed a clear lack of understanding the challenge itself, but he had to give in and practice a few spells for show. Not that the spell practice wasn’t useful, but Ben was sure the challenge was going to involve knowledge outside of blasting a pot into shrapnel.

Arnold wasn’t the only interruption, however, as Bradford was taking making the carriage unlivable in every way. He was even more obnoxious than usual in the month leading up to the final challenge, becoming more and more upset over the fact that he should have been the chosen champion. He’d calmed down on that front for a while, but as the tournament was coming to an end he seemed more bitter than usual that he had missed his chance at competing. This meant Bradford was dueling the conflicting parts of himself. On one side he wanted his school to win to bring Beauxbatons the honor of having the champion, on the other side, however, he wanted Ben to fail spectacularly out of spite. It was almost an art watching him try and manage those two emotions, but Ben wished he didn’t _have_ to watch as he would rather be preparing instead.

Caleb and him were still exchanging letters as no one seemed to have caught on to that trick. Caleb told Ben about what he was studying or practicing, but mostly he asked for advice. Ben and Caleb were both fairly equal spell casters it seemed, at least according to his letters, but Caleb fell behind in areas of study that required memorization _and_ application of that memorization, not just recitation. Ben did the best he could to help, but it would have been easier if they could talk in person so he could explain himself clearer. Ben actually couldn’t believe Arnold was still keeping him virtually locked up after all this time. It was bordering on obsession the way he wanted Ben to win through his influence. Of course if Ben lost it would be entirely his own fault for not following Arnold’s directions exactly.

June 24th finally came though, and Ben was more nervous then he had been the first two tasks. He hadn’t know what the first task was going in, but he remembered feeling relief when he knew it was the mountain climb, and the second task had been frightening because he barely learned how to fly, but this time Caleb was depending on him. He was sure of Ben’s abilities and to be honest Ben wasn’t really sure of his own. The whole night before he studied and practiced and prepared but he still didn’t feel ready enough. Everything in him wanted this to already be over.

“You’re not gonna win, but don’t make us look awful,” Bradford said as they walked to the castle. He was still figuring out those waring emotions. Ben ignored him and focused on taking each step in stride.

“Heya Benny!” Caleb called as soon as the Beauxbatons students arrived in the underground. Ben waved back, but got a stern look from Arnold in response. What did it really matter though, this was the last day of the tournament, Arnold couldn’t punish him any worse than what might be coming for him in the final task.

Eventually Ben was split up from his group, as were Caleb and Simcoe from their own. The viewers were ushered into one door or the other on either side of the main task entrance that Ben had seen last month. Since that time the two doors on the side must have been added for viewing purposes. Ben overheard someone mention a one-way enchantment on the walls of the task arena that allowed the audience to see the competitors, but not the other way around. Finally the three were left alone. Completely alone actually. The headmasters left as well to join the viewer’s area, but not too long after they left Hogwarts Headmaster Washington’s curt and steady voice filled the whole of the underground.

“The champions will enter through the door when it opens and complete a series of unique tasks under a time constraint to earn points. Should they succeed, they will move on towards the end, should they fail, however, the room will collapse on itself around them. Good luck champions.”

Washington finished speaking, Ben took a breath, and the center door swung open.

All three champions hurried in as the door shut behind them. They seemed to have entered a planetarium, as the walls, ground, and all the space in between was covered in stars and planetary outlines. The overly wide room was dark but for the sparkling and twinkling of the stars so it was impossible to see too far beyond a certain area. Caleb grabbed onto his sleeve so they could find each other, but they both lost track of Simoe in the dark. Ben took a moment to take it in as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do.

“Any ideas Tallboy?” Caleb asked as they looked about themselves. There were no instructions, no guidelines, just an hourglass in the center that was all too quickly running out of sand. Taking a breath Ben searched around once more, this time paying careful attention to the pattern of the celestial objects around him.

“It looks like it’s an exact replica of the sky,” Ben said, trying to recall the diagrams he studied in astronomy. “Except…” he trailed off.

“Except what?” Caleb said, searching the sky himself, though Ben could tell from his frantic reliance on the other student that he hadn’t studied astronomy or astrology quite as much as he should have.

“It’s just, I don’t know my constellations as well as I wish, but I don’t think Aquarius is in the right place. It’s supposed to be near Pisces and Cetus, but it’s by Orion instead.”

“Well what’s by Pisces and Cetus then?” Caleb asked and Ben swung his head to look.

“That looks like… Taurus,” Ben replied. “Which is supposed to be where Aquarius is right now.”

“So we switch ‘em!” Caleb said and he drew out his wand at the same time as Ben. There was a moment of back and forth discussion on the best spell to use for the swap before Ben and Caleb each picked a constellation, Aquarius and Taurus respectively, and swished their wands to start the movement.

“You have to put it in exactly the right position,” Ben said to Caleb as they pulled the stars in the sky together. “He has to look like he’s about to impale Orion.”

“Yeah I got it,” Caleb replied. “Orion’s my favourite, so I kinda know what the stars look like around him.”

Ben and Caleb each spent a few extra seconds making sure each star they had moved was at the right angle and in the right place before they both agreed to drop them into place. When they did both constellations disappeared and revealed two empty rectangular gaps.

“Doorways,” Ben mumbled.

“Yeah, but which one do we go through?” Caleb said, his head moving back and forth to look at each door in turn. “It’ll probably lock behind us, so we’ll only get one shot at this.”

“Alright, alright,” Ben said, sneaking a peak at the hourglass, which had lost nearly half its contents by that point. He didn’t understand what he was supposed to do with two doorways, there weren’t any clues at all.

“Well, they both came from constellations, didn’t they,” Caleb thought out loud. “And constellations come from stories right? So maybe one of them has a story about, I dunno, finding the right path?”

“I think you’re onto something,” Ben said as he recalled the stories he’d learned. “Aquarius is based on Ganymede, who was taken by Zeus to Olympus to be his cup-bearer, and Taurus is based on the bull-shape Zeus took to woo Europa enough that she traveled with him to Crete.”

“OK, so maybe it’s based on destination. Aquarius leads to Olympus, but Taurus leads to Crete so we go with Olympus?” Caleb mused.

“Maybe, but maybe it’s about the context,” Ben said. “Ganymede was taken to Olympus, but Europa went willingly to Crete.”

“So… you think we should go with Taurus?”

“I don’t know, I mean, we’re the ones choosing so it makes sense to go the way we choose than the one you have to be forced to go,” Ben explained.

“Alright, then let’s do it,” Caleb said. “I trust your judgement.”

Ben felt warm inside in a way he hoped never left him as Caleb took his hand to walk towards the exit. It was dark as the passed though, made darker still by the door behind them shutting tight so none of the starlight could get through. As they walked, however, a light came through and they entered a thin but long room with an hourglass, of course, but also a cauldron and walls filled with all manner of ingredients for potion making, along with, of all things, a practice dummy at the comlete other end of the hall.

“Oh shit, they’re gonna make us do potions,” Caleb groaned and Ben gave a laugh as he began looking around to figure out what they were meant to do. He ended up, instead, finding the door, which was to his direct left and appeared to be unlocked. Ben tossed Caleb a look and they both shrugged as he pushed it open. He immediately shut it though, as two creatures awaited him on the other side.

“Was that a goddamn dementor!?” Caleb shouted as Ben pressed himself against the door to make sure it was shut.

“And some kind of troll,” Ben said incredulously, trying to figure out what to do.

“Well, I guess we can use the dummy to practice a patronus charm,” Caleb suggested.

“Do you know how to do one?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, I mean not as well as some people, but I can handle it. Can you?”

“No, of course not. That would be something useful to know,” Ben said and Caleb rolled his eyes.

“OK, so I can handle that, but what about the troll? You know any good spells to knock him out.”

“Hm,” Ben hummed as he looked around. “Not really, but I do know my potions. Trolls are stupid right?”

“Yeah,” Caleb agreed as Ben walked from the door to the potion-brewing area and began looking for ingredients.

“So if I make a bit of food with some Draught of Living Death in it, he’ll probably eat it in a hurry.”

“Can you brew that?” Caleb asked and Ben nodded enthusiastically as dumped an armful of ingredients on the table. “You’re incredible, do you know that?”

Ben’s face held a wide grin for quite some time as he began the arduous process of making the potion. It would take a while to brew, but from the slow speed of the sand in the hourglass Ben could tell they had enough time. Meanwhile Caleb began to practice conjuring a patronus, which Ben would have loved to give his full attention to watching but he had to pay special attention to the draught so that would just have to wait. Still, he could pay attention to the sounds of Caleb’s practice and he seemed much better at it than he had claimed.

The two talked occasionally as Caleb took a break to discuss how his work was going and check up on Ben.

“You sound like you’re really good at that charm,” Ben said in reference to what he had heard from Caleb’s area of the room.

“Yeah, I’ve never really been great at it actually,” Caleb said as he leaned on the table slightly. “But if I use that memory of us in the hallway I find it works great.”

Ben looked up for one moment from his potion to give Caleb a look but Caleb looked serious. Ben was equal parts flattered and embarrassed, suddenly remembering that all of their actions were being watched by an audience through the one-way walls, and decided it was best to say nothing on the matter at all. Caleb laughed in a sweet sort of way as Ben went red around the ears, and there was that warm glow again like it had never left.

“It’s done!” Ben said as he watched a leaf disintegrate in the concoction. Caleb came over just as Ben grabbed a bit of cheese from one of the cupboards and used a spoon to dip it in. Once it was completely covered Ben pulled it out and set it on a plate.

“We put it out, wait for him to eat it, once he’s asleep you take the lead and get rid of the dementor,” Ben explained as he walked over to the door. Caleb nodded as Ben took a breath and opened the door. As quick as he could he dropped the plate and slide it out towards the troll, then he slammed the door shut and stood against it to wait. Ben watched bits of sand drop out of the hourglass and became aware that it was closer to being empty than Ben would have preferred. They didn’t have that much time left.

After waiting for several moments Ben risked another look outside, but the troll hadn’t eaten the cheese yet, and was just poking it with his finger.

“He’s not eating it!” Ben hissed. “He’s just playing with it!”

“They are stupid,” Caleb said.

“You’re not helping.”

“What am I supposed to say? We can’t very well make him eat it, we just have to wait.”

So they did. Ben checked periodically on it, but the troll seemed more content just touching the cheese rather than eating it. The hourglass was getting close to the three-fourths mark when Caleb decided to step up and take a look himself.

“Maybe I have a lucky touch,” he said as he gently pushed Ben out of the way. Ben rolled his eyes, but granted Caleb passage anyway. There was a deep breath and Caleb opened the door, let out a bark of a laugh, then shut the door.

“What? Did he eat it?” Ben said anxiously as Caleb laughed.

“He’s out but he didn’t eat it!” he replied. “He put his finger up his nose and got it in his system that way! He's passed out like that! That’s what he gets for touching it so much! His finger’s probably coated in the stuff!”

There was a short laugh from Ben as well, in addition to a shake of his head, before he recomposed himself.

“You ready for the dementor?” Ben asked and Caleb nodded.

“Open the door and let it come in here,” Caleb said. “Hide yourself behind the door while I deal with him. There’s more space in here for me to work with so I can send him down to the other end of the room and we’ll have time to get out before he catches up.”

Ben nodded in understanding but looked scared.

“I’m gonna be fine, Benny,” he said and he touched his forehead to Ben’s.

“You do have a particularly good memory to use,” Ben said in feign mock, and Caleb laughed.

“Let’s make a better one tonight,” Caleb whispered seductively and Ben gave him a swat before reaching for the handle. After just a little hesitation, he pulled the door open as far as it would go so he was tucked behind it, save his eyes which he kept around the door to watch Caleb.

Cold air filled the room as a dark figure made its way towards Caleb in the center of the room. Ben expected Caleb to blast it the minute it arrived, but he waited instead, obviously calculating how to get it as far from the door as possible, which was smart but gave Ben endless worry as he watched from the door. His hands shivered as everything in the room grew icy, but Caleb stood tall in the room, waiting.

Finally, the dementor got close enough for Caleb and he moved himself so he could aim the dementor to go to the back of the room. He took a breath and shouted:

“ _Expecto patronum_!” A flash of silver light emerged from Caleb’s wand, and to Ben’s surprise, kept emerging for some time until a giant marine animal filled the space of the room and sent the dementor soaring to the back wall of the long room.

“Your patronus is a _whale_!” Ben shouted as Caleb headed back towards Ben and the door.

“It’s a blue whale actually, now let’s go!” Caleb shouted and he grabbed Ben’s hand for the second time as they went out the door and around the sleeping troll onwards through a lengthy strip of darkness. For a moment Ben wondered if they had taken the wrong route, but he saw light up ahead and eventually the two entered a chamber with a fairly well-lit table at the center, complete with multiple bottles and another hourglass that began dropping sand the exact second the pair entered the room.

“There’s actual instructions this time!” Caleb shouted as he picked up a piece of parchment from the table.

“The bottle that speaks is the answer you seek,” Ben read over Caleb’s shoulder. “Speaks?”

The two began reading the labels off the bottles present. There were eight in total, along with a small circular disk at the center of the table which Ben assumed was meant to hold the correct bottle in order to open the door.

“This one’s gigglewater, but that makes a person giggle, not speak,” Caleb said in a thoughtful voice as he continued to read labels. “Hey, Veritaserum!” he suddenly shouted, thrusting the bottle towards Ben to look at.

“That’ll definitely make you talk, nice work!” Ben said and Caleb put the bottle in the circle. As he did, a door to the left opened up and Caleb and Ben made their way through it. That challenge hadn’t taken any time at all!

Ben and Caleb walked down a dark hallway that offered no light at all and for a moment Ben wondered if they had taken the wrong route, but he saw light up ahead and eventually the two entered a chamber with a fairly well-lit table at the center, complete with multiple bottles and another hourglass that didn’t look quite as full as it should have, but Ben wasn’t going to bother with it. There was plenty of sand left in it.

“There’s actual instructions this time!” Caleb shouted as he picked up a piece of parchment from the table.

“The bottle that speaks is the answer you seek,” Ben read over Caleb’s shoulder. “Speaks?”

The two began reading the labels off the bottles present. There were eight in total, along with a small circular disk at the center of the table which Ben assumed was meant to hold the correct bottle in order to open the door.

“This one’s gigglewater, but that makes a person giggle, not speak,” Caleb said in a thoughtful voice as he continued to read labels. “Hey, Veritaserum!” he suddenly shouted, thrusting the bottle towards Ben to look at.

“That’ll definitely make you talk, nice work!” Ben said and Caleb put the bottle in the circle. As he did, a door to the left opened up and Caleb and Ben made their way through it, though in Caleb’s hurry he snagged bit of his shirt on the door as it closed, but that wasn’t going to bother either of them. They had figured that out in no time with plenty of sand to spare in the hourglass.

Ben and Caleb walked down a dark hallway that offered no light at all and for a moment Ben wondered if they had taken the wrong route, but he saw light up ahead and eventually the two entered a chamber with a fairly well-lit table at the center, complete with multiple bottles and another hourglass, but this one was already half empty.

“There’s actual instructions this time!” Caleb shouted as he picked up a piece of parchment from the table.

“The bottle that speaks is the answer you seek,” Ben read over Caleb’s shoulder. “Speaks?”

The two began reading the labels off the bottles present. There were eight in total, along with a small circular disk at the center of the table which Ben assumed was meant to hold the correct bottle in order to open the door.

“This one’s gigglewater, but that makes a person giggle, not speak,” Caleb said in a thoughtful voice as he continued to read labels. “Hey, Veritaserum!” he suddenly shouted, thrusting the bottle towards Ben to look at, but Ben paused.

“Wait stop,” he said as Caleb went to put it in the circle. “Why is this hourglass half empty already?” he asked and Caleb took a look at it.

“Maybe it’s a mistake,” Caleb responded.

“Then why does this all feel so familiar?” Ben asked. “I just feel like we’ve already done this before.”

Caleb took pause at that as well and looked around. He seemed to be having the same feeling as Caleb, the feeling that all of this had been seen before.

“Is that…” Caleb trailed off as he walked towards a door to the left of him. He picked up a bit of clothe that had fallen on the floor, then absentmindedly touched at a hole in his shirt. He tossed Ben a look and they both looked awestruck.

“We have been here before,” Ben said. “But how? And how would we forget so quickly, it’s not possible- Oh my God. We’re in a Carousel of Confusion.”

“We must keep making the wrong choice,” Caleb said, nodding to the Veritaserum. “The whole room probably resets every time we leave, and the wrong answer must send you through the Carousel.”

“But what’s the right answer? That’s the only one that causes you to speak.”

“We could try the gigglewater,” Caleb suggested.

“We don’t have enough time in the hourglass to make any guesses we’re not sure of,” Ben said as the hourglass reached the three-fourths mark and the room began to shake slightly. Small bits of ruble had begun to detach from the ceiling and dust was coating Caleb and Ben’s hair. “And you were right the first time, it makes you giggle, not speak. This doesn’t make any sense. Let me look at the question again.”

Caleb handed Ben the now dust-covered parchment and he looked it over with care.

“The bottle that speaks,” he repeated.

“The bottle?” Caleb said. “Wouldn’t Veritaserum be the ‘potion that speaks’ technically, not the bottle. That’s pretty weird phrasing.”

“That _is_ weird phrasing,” Ben said in a hurry as he looked back and forth between the bottles and the note, “and I bet it’s intentional!”

“OK, so we were looking at potions not bottles like we were supposed to,” Caleb said and he took another look at the table.

“But what bottle makes you speak?” Ben asked openly.

“It doesn’t say ‘makes you speak’ though, it just says ‘the bottle that speaks’,” Caleb said.

“Oh,” Ben sighed, more confused than ever. The ceiling had begun dropping larger pieces that threatened to smash the bottles on the table, and Ben knew it wouldn't be long before they threatened to smash him and Caleb. “But what bottle speaks?”

“Could be enchanted.”

“But none of these are enchanted to talk, so…” Ben thought for a moment, the room around him shaking and crashing on itself. “…none of these bottles are right. There is no right answer.”

A door to Ben’s right opened suddenly as a large chunk of ceiling came down and crushed two of the bottles on the table. Caleb quickly grabbed Ben’s hand and the two ran together out of the collapsing room and into the well-lit area of the outside of Hogwarts.

“Holy shit, we made it,” Caleb said as the crowds of people who had been watching from the walls began flooding out to watch the points be awarded and discover the winner of the tournament. Ben squeezed Caleb’s hand as they walked out to the cheering crowd.

“There’s Simcoe!” said Ben in awe. At first he thought Simcoe had gotten out before them, but he looked like he was getting treated for a good number of injuries. Headmaster Hewlet was standing watch over him, and he looked exactly the same as he always did so Ben couldn’t imagine he was too upset of his students injuries, for which Ben couldn’t blame him.

“He got stuck in the second challenge,” a female voice behind the pair said and Ben turned to get tackle hugged by both Anna and Abe.

“What!?” Caleb said with a laugh.

“He got stuck in the Carousel of Confusion the first task too, but he snapped out of it pretty quick,” Abe explained. “All three of you were supposed to get separated the first task. You were supposed to end up in different versions of the same rooms, but you grabbed Ben’s sleeve so you couldn't be set apart and ended up doing the whole thing together. It was a bit of an issue because some of the audience ended up watching three empty rooms and had to be moved so they could actually see something happening.”

Ben wondered if that was going to affect their score. Would they consider it cheating that they had worked together?

“Alright but what about Simcoe,” Caleb chipped in, obviously more concerned with enjoying Simcoe’s pain than his own score.

“Apparently he tried to fight his way past the troll and the dementor at first,” Anna said, picking up where Abe left off, “but that didn’t work. So he also decided to brew Draught of Living Death, but he messed it up once and the second batch took too long and the whole place fell on top of him. I guess the place was made of lightweight material, but it still hurt coming down on him I’ll bet and he’s got a few broken bones to boot.”

There was a laugh from Caleb that he directed specifically towards Simcoe, which Ben thought was a little much, but he couldn’t blame him. He had it coming.

“The judges have finished scoring this unusual final task,” Washington began suddenly and everyone stopped to listen. “For completing but initially getting stuck in the first challenge, failing the second, and not attempting the third, John Simcoe of Durmstrang Institute is awarded 15 out of a possible 50 points.”

There was an ‘oh’ from the crowd and Simcoe let out another string of curses and slurs that earned him a rap upside the head from Hewlet, which he obviously didn’t like, but he went quiet rather than get in worse trouble with his school. He’d already lost the competition for them, he could keep a little bit of their dignity.

“Despite Benjamin Tallmadge and Caleb Brewster ending up together for the challenges,” Washington continued, “the judges have decided that will not negatively affect either of their scores as the task was about problem solving and working together can be a solution.”

Ben gave a sigh of relief as shouts of approval went up from the Gryffindor trio around him.

“Instead the duo was graded each on individual performance during the solving of each challenge. For relying on his partner for most of the task, but also figuring out that the constellations had to be switched, properly placing Taurus, correctly conjuring and using a patronus, using his torn shirt to figure out the Carousel of Confusion, and correctly interpreting the phrasing of the third task, Caleb Brewster is awarded 46 points.”

A cheer when up from the crowd, made up mostly of Hogwarts students. He was at 126 points overall, well above Simcoe’s 91. But they still had to wait for Ben’s score.

“And finally, for figuring out the constellation mix up, choosing the right door, working out a plan to defeat the dementor and troll, successfully brewing a Draught of Living Death, and completely solving the final challenge, the judges have elected to award Benjamin Tallmade of Beauxbatons Academy the full 50 points."

There was a hush in the crowd as everyone worked the numbers in their head. Ben and Caleb were both at 126. It was a tie. No one was sure what to do until Washington spoke again.

"This score puts Benjamin and Caleb at a tie. This is a rare occurance in the Triwizard Tournament and it has always resulted in a tiebreaker task between the two. However, the judges have noted the close relationship between the two contestants and are offering them a choice in the matter. The two can choose to compete in a tiebreaker, or they can share first place and the prize money with one another."

Washington hadn't finished quite yet when four voices in unison shouted "Share!". Ben knew he would gladly share first place with Caleb, Caleb seemed thrilled at the idea of them both being winners, and Abe and Anna knew exactly how they felt on the matter so they pitched in their opinion as well.

That seemed to be enough to settle the matter and Caleb and Ben were both excorted to a levitating platform to accept their award. Caleb was always better in front of cameras and he posed excessively for every photo with the purse of money he had been handed. They stood there for well over an hour doing multiple interviews with all number of people. It was all fantastic but also overwhelming. There were cameras flashing and people shaking Ben's hand and everyone felt like a stranger who'd suddenly decided they were Ben and Caleb's best friend. It was officially over though, the tournament and the challenges and the late night worrying and most important: the seperation. There was nothing on earth that could stop Ben and Caleb from staying with one another, and the hand pressing tight against Ben's reminded him of that for the whole of the evening.


	17. Caleb

The morning after the tournament Caleb woke up next to Ben and the purse of money he had been examining late into the night when they nodded off. There was a relief that couldn’t be described now that the tournament was over, but also now that Ben’s house arrest had been lifted. The school year was over at the end of the day and both of them would be free to do whatever they wanted.

“Good morning,” Ben said, rolling over after apparently noticing that Caleb was up as well.

“Morning,” Caleb said as he softly rubbed his nose up against Ben’s. It was actually almost afternoon, but neither of them cared too much.

“Did the money sleep OK?” Ben asked and Caleb shot out a laugh. Caleb had been keeping a close eye on it the whole night, not putting it past Simcoe to try something to steal it. Ben had assured him that Simcoe had been in it for the glory, not the money, but Caleb still thought it best to keep watch. 1,000 galleons was nothing to take lightly.

“Like a baby,” Caleb replied, picking up the purse to examine it’s contents again.

“Have you thought about what we should do with it?” Ben asked.

“I guess we could split it up, 500 each, and do whatever we want with it,” Caleb replied. “But it might be more fun to do something together with it.”

“I like that idea,” Ben said, propping himself up on one arm to get a better look at the already sitting-up Caleb. He looked like something out of a painting, partially dressed and comfortable in bed. Caleb could look at him all day. He decided he just might.

“I’ll be a graduated student after tonight,” Caleb said thoughtfully. “And you’ll be finished with school tomorrow after your end of year celebration back at Beauxbatons. We could go somewhere together.”

Ben seemed to perk up at that idea.

“We could go traveling,” Ben said. “I’ve never seen much of anything, I’ve always been so busy with school, but we could go anywhere we wanted!”

Caleb smiled down at Ben, and he smiled back up, and Caleb liked the idea of being anywhere with Ben to an exceptional degree.

“How about you start with getting to lunch,” someone said and Caleb turned over to see Anna and Abe in the doorway.

“Well good morning to you too!” Caleb said. “Didn’t know we were holding a convention in here, by all means, come right in!”

“It’s almost noon, actually,” Abe said. “And I live in this room too, Caleb.”

“Yeah, barely,” Caleb said. “You sleep on that couch more than your bed.”

“It’s warmer in there-” Abe started, then waved his hand, deciding the conversation didn’t matter.

“So what’s this about traveling,” Anna asked, flopping down on the edge of the bed.

“We’re deciding what to do with the money,” Ben said. “Figure we might as well spend it on something exciting.”

“Haven’t you had enough ‘exciting’ to last you a while?” Anna remarked and Caleb shrugged.

“You can never have too much of a good thing.”

“That isn’t true at all,” Abe muttered as he headed over to his bed to get one thing or another. He was ignored except for a look shot by Anna.

“I think it’s a great idea. You’ll have to write to me of course. And I want pictures too, so I can show everyone that _I_ know the Triwizard champions,” Anna explained with a dramatic note in her voice. Caleb laughed again and softly swatter her with a pillow. She laughed in turn and stood up to go over to Abe in his corner of the room. There was a quiet as Caleb thought of something else to say. It occurred to Caleb that things would never be like this again. He would have to write to Anna not just over the summer, but all the time because they wouldn’t be coming back to school.

“You alright?” Ben asked, apparently noticing the change in Caleb’s expression.

“This is it, isn’t it?” he said. “My last day of school. It’s just, I dunno, a bit weird.”

“You mean sad,” Ben pitched in. “The word you’re looking for is sad.”

That hurt a little bit. Caleb was always so good at avoiding that emotion, at redirecting his feelings so it was something else, something less painful. But that was the truth of it, it was sad to reach the end of something he’d dedicated so much of his life too. Everything had to change now, not in bits in pieces, but entirely and completely.

“You know me,” Caleb said. “I’m no good with figuring out my emotions. I never liked change much anyway.”

“Change is necessary,” Ben mused, “but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.”

Caleb thought on that for a second. Ben was right of course, but that didn’t mean Caleb wanted him to be right.

“It’ll end up alright though,” Ben added. “We’ll take some time off, have some fun, and then we get to get started on the rest of our lives. We’re in this together now. We can’t possibly go through that many more changes.”

“I don’t think you’re right about that,” Caleb said as he lay back down in bed. “If we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together we’re going to go through a lot of changes, and I can’t promise I won’t be a prick about all of them, but I can do my best.”

“You’re gonna spend the rest of your life with me?” Ben asked, and he sounded sincere.

“Unless you’re planning on murdering me at some point, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me,” Caleb said and there was a grin a mile wide on Ben’s face that Caleb didn’t need to see to feel.

“When I first came here there was no where I wanted to be more than anywhere other than here,” Ben said. “I didn’t want to come, or compete, or do anything, but I’m so glad I did. You’re the absolute best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I wouldn’t change any of this.”

“Not even the months I spent ignoring and insulting you?” Caleb added, half-joking, half-serious.

“No, I wouldn’t,” Ben said, quite sure of himself. “I think we learned something, about ourselves, about each other, about people in general, and that’s what got us here.”

“Here,” Caleb echoed, cozying himself in bed next to Ben. Here was relative. It would change before they knew it, and they would have to get used to it again. But he couldn’t worry about every little thing the future was going to bring. They had money, they had a plan, and they had each other. The latter, Caleb was certain, would always be a constant. He had Ben and Ben had him, and despite everything it took to get there, the challenges and the trials and the problems, that would always be enough.

“You coming to lunch?” Anna asked as she and Abe headed towards the door. Abe had apparently been searching for his beanie, which was now in its proper place on his head. Ben laughed beside Caleb.

“Some things are just always going to be the same, you know?” he said and Caleb smiled back at him. “You and me, Anna and attitude, and Abe and his beanie. These are constants in the universe.”

“You and me,” Caleb repeated.

“Us,” Ben replied.

Us. That was one change Caleb didn't mind at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been one year and four months since I started this project. I began it on a whim, writing the story in my journal at work when I had spare time and it turned into something larger than I ever imagined. A story that was meant to be only a few chapters long has ended up being well over 30,000 words. Life is funny like that. It gets away from you sometimes. Despite all of that, we have finally reached the end of this story, and I am so thankful to anyone whose read it. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. May we meet again


End file.
